# Funeral Oration on Basil - Author: [Gregory of Nyssa](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/gregory-of-nyssa/) - Latin title: *In Basilium fratrem* - Date: ca. 379-380 (approximate) - Source: J.-P. Migne, ed., Patrologiae cursus completus, Series Graeca 46 (Paris: Migne, 1863), cols. 788-817 (OCR by the Bavarian State Library / Google Books; lines extracted for this site) - Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator - Editions and translations: Gregorii Nysseni Sermones, Gregorii Nysseni Opera 9-10 (Leiden: Brill) (volume and editors not yet checked; cited only; not reproduced) - Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/ - Passages: 16 ## Funeral Oration on Basil, Migne cols. 787–788 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/787/#p-787 - Source: PG 46:787–788 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: Gregory begins by noting that the church's feasts in these days follow an order taught by Paul. ### Greek text Καλὴν ἐπέθηκεν ὁ Θεὸς τὴν τάξιν ταῖς ἐτησίοις ταύταις ἡμῶν ἑορταῖς, ἃς διά τινος τεταγμένης ἀκολουθίας κατὰ τὰς ἡμέρας ταύτας ἤδη τε ἡγάγομεν, καὶ πάλιν ἄγομεν. Ἡ δὲ τάξις ἡμῖν ἐστι τῶν πνευματικῶν πανηγύρεων, ἣν καὶ ὁ μέγας Παῦλος ἐδίδαξεν, ἄνωθεν τῶν τοιούτων τὴν γνῶσιν ἔχων. Φησὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος, ἐν πρώτοις μὲν τοὺς ἀποστόλους τε καὶ ### English translation (Claude) God has set a fine order on these yearly feasts of ours, which, following a fixed sequence, we have already been keeping in these days and are keeping again. The order of our spiritual festivals is the one the great Paul too taught, having knowledge of such things from above. For he says that in the first place apostles and ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Bas. 787 (PG 46:787–788; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/787). ## Funeral Oration on Basil, Migne cols. 789–790 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/787/#p-789 - Source: PG 46:789–790 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: After the Nativity and the feasts of the apostles comes Basil's, the pastor and teacher, master of both Christian and Greek learning, second to the apostles only in time. ### Greek text τοὺς προφήτας τετάχθαι, μετ' ἐκείνους δὲ τοὺς ποιμένας καὶ διδασκάλους. Συμβαίνει τοίνυν τῇ ἀποστολικῇ ταύτῃ ἀκολουθίᾳ ἡ τάξις τῶν τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ πανηγύρεων. Ἀλλὰ τὴν πρώτην οὐ συναριθμῶ ταῖς ἄλλαις. Ἡ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῇ θεοφανείᾳ τοῦ μονογενοῦς Υἱοῦ χάρις, ἡ διὰ τῆς ἐκ Παρθένου γεννήσεως ἀναδειχθεῖσα τῷ κόσμῳ, οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἐστιν ἁγία πανήγυρις, ἀλλ᾽ ἁγία ἁγίων, καὶ πανήγυρις πανηγύρεων. Οὐκοῦν τὰς μετ' αὐτὴν ἀριθμήσωμεν Πρῶτον ἡμῖν ἀπόστολοί τε καὶ προφῆται τῆς πνευματικῆς χοροστασίας κατήρξαντο. Τὰ δύο γὰρ πάντως περὶ τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἐστι χαρίσματα, τὸ τε ἀποστολικὸν πνεῦμα, καὶ τὸ τῆς προφητείας. Εἰσὶ δὲ οὗτοι· Στέφανος, Πέτρος, Ἰάκωβος, Ἰωάννης, Παῦλος· εἶτα μετὰ τούτους φυλάξας τὴν ἑαυτοῦ τάξιν, ἐξάρχει τῆς παρούσης ἡμῖν πανηγύρεως ὁ ποιμὴν καὶ διδάσκαλος. Τίς οὗτος; Εἴπω τὸ ὄνομα, ἢ ἀρκεῖ ἡ χάρις ἀντὶ τοῦ ὀνόματος δεῖξαι τὸν ἄνδρα; Διδάσκαλον γὰρ καὶ ποιμένα μετὰ τοὺς ἀποστόλους ἀκούσας, ἐνόησας πάντως τὸν μετὰ τοὺς ἀποστόλους ποιμένα τε καὶ διδάσκαλον τοῦτον λέγω, τὸ σκεῦος τῆς ἐκλογῆς, τὸν ὑψηλὸν βίῳ τε καὶ λόγῳ Βασίλειον, τὸν ἀστεῖον τῷ Θεῷ ἐκ γεννήσεως, τὸν τοῖς ἤθεσι πολιὸν ἐκ νεότητος, τὸν παιδευθέντα μὲν κατὰ Μωϋσέα πάσῃ σοφίᾳ τῶν ἔξωθεν λόγων, τοῖς δὲ ἱεροῖς γράμμασιν ἐκ βρέφους καὶ μέχρι τῆς τελειώσεως συντραφέντα καὶ συναυξηθέντα καὶ συνακμάσαντα· ὅθεν διδάσκων πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ τῇ θείᾳ τε καὶ τῇ ἔξωθεν, οἷόν τις ἀριστεὺς περιδέξιος δι᾽ ἑκατέρας παιδεύσεως τοῖς ἀντιτεταγμένοις ἑαυτὸν ἀνθοπλίζων, ὑπεραίρει δι' ἀμφοτέρων τοὺς προσπαλαίοντας, ὑπερέχων ἐν ἑκατέρῳ τοὺς ἐν θατέρῳ τινὰ κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας ἰσχὺν ἔχειν νομίζοντας, τοὺς μὲν ἐκ τῆς αἱρέσεως τὰς Γραφὰς προβαλλομένους, ταῖς Γραφαῖς ἀνατρέπων, Ἕλληνας δὲ διὰ τῆς ἰδίας αὐτῶν συμποδίζων παιδεύσεως. Ἡ δὲ κατὰ τῶν ἀντιπάλων νίκη οὐ πτῶσιν ἐποίει τῶν ἡττημένων, ἀλλ᾿ ἀνάστασιν. Οἱ γὰρ ἡττώμενοι τῆς ἀληθείας, νικηταὶ καὶ στεφανῖται κατὰ τῆς πλάνης καὶ τοῦ ψεύδους ἐγίνοντο. Τοῦτον οὖν ἔχομεν καὶ ἡμεῖς νῦν τὸν διατιθέντα ἡμῖν τὴν παροῦσαν πανήγυριν, τὸν γνήσιον ὑποφήτην τοῦ Πνεύματος, τὸν γενναῖον τοῦ Χριστοῦ στρατιώτην, τὸν μεγαλόφωνον κήρυκα τοῦ σωτηρίου κηρύγματος, τὸν ἀγωνιστήν τε καὶ πρόμαχον τῆς ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ παῤῥησίας· ᾧ τὰ δεύτερα μετὰ τοὺς ἀποστόλους ὁ χρόνος δίδωσι μόνον. Εἰ γὰρ κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν τῷ Παύλῳ χρόνον μετέσχεν τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου βίου Βασίλειος, οὕτως ἂν πάντως συνεγράφη τῷ Παύλῳ ὡς Σιλουανὸς καὶ Τιμόθεος καὶ ὅτι οὐκ ἔξω τῆς ἀληθείας στοχάζομαι, οὐτωσὶ τὸν λόγον κατανοήσωμεν Παρείσθω τὸ προτερεύειν τοὺς ἁγίους τῷ χρόνῳ. Ἡ γὰρ τοῦ χρόνου φύσις ἐν τῷ παρωχηκότι καὶ τῷ μέλλοντι, πρὸς ἀρετήν τε καὶ κακίαν ὁμοίως ἔχει, οὔτε τοῦτο οὖσα, οὔτε τὸ ἕτερον· ἐν γὰρ προαιρέσει ### English translation (Claude) prophets have been appointed, and after them pastors and teachers. The order of the year's festivals agrees, then, with this apostolic sequence. But the first I do not count with the others. For the grace of the theophany of the only-begotten Son, made manifest to the world through his birth from the Virgin, is not simply a holy festival but the holy of holies and the festival of festivals. Let us count, then, those that come after it. First the apostles and prophets have begun the spiritual dance for us. For both gifts certainly belong to the same men, the apostolic spirit and that of prophecy. They are these: Stephen, Peter, James, John, Paul. Then after them, keeping his own place in the order, the pastor and teacher leads off our present festival. Who is he? Shall I say the name, or is his grace enough instead of a name to show the man? For when you hear of a teacher and pastor after the apostles, you have surely understood that I mean this pastor and teacher who came after the apostles: the vessel of election, lofty in life and word, Basil; well-pleasing to God from birth, grey-haired in character from youth; instructed like Moses in all the wisdom of outside learning, but nourished in the sacred writings from infancy to his perfection, growing and coming to his prime with them. Hence, teaching every man in all wisdom, both the divine and the outside, like a champion who fights with both hands, arming himself against his opponents with each kind of learning, he overcomes through both those who wrestle with him, surpassing in each those who think they have some strength against the truth in the other: overturning by the Scriptures those of the heresy who put forward the Scriptures, and tripping up the Greeks by their own learning. And his victory over his opponents brought not the fall but the rising of the defeated. For those defeated by the truth became victors and crowned conquerors against error and falsehood. This is the man we too now have arranging the present festival for us: the genuine interpreter of the Spirit, the noble soldier of Christ, the loud-voiced herald of the saving proclamation, the contender and champion of boldness on behalf of Christ; to whom time alone gives second place after the apostles. For if Basil had shared in human life at the same time as Paul, he would surely have been named with Paul in his letters, as Silvanus and Timothy were. And that I am not guessing beyond the truth, let us consider the argument in this way. Let the saints' priority in time be set aside. For the nature of time, in the past and in the future, stands alike toward virtue and vice, being neither the one nor the other; for the good lies in free choice, ### Scripture references - Eph 4:11: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 12:28: allusion, medium confidence - Acts 9:15: allusion, high confidence - Acts 7:22: allusion, high confidence - 2 Tim 3:15: echo, low confidence - Col 1:28: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Thess 1:1: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The feasts in order: Christmas (25 December), then Stephen, Peter, James, John, and Paul (26–28 December), then Basil (1 January). - Allusions: Eph 4:11 and 1 Cor 12:28 (apostles, prophets, pastors and teachers); Acts 9:15 (vessel of election); Acts 7:22 (Moses' education); 2 Tim 3:15 (from infancy); Col 1:28 (teaching every man in all wisdom); 1 Thess 1:1 and 2 Thess 1:1 (Silvanus and Timothy). ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Bas. 789 (PG 46:789–790; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/789). ## Funeral Oration on Basil, Migne cols. 791–792 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/787/#p-791 - Source: PG 46:791–792 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: Lateness in time does not lessen sanctity: in each age God raises the physician fitted to its disease, as he raised Abraham against Chaldean astrology, Moses against Egyptian magic, and Samuel against anarchy. ### Greek text τὸ ἀγαθὸν, οὐκ ἐν χρόνῳ. ᾿Αλλ' ἐξεταζέσθω πρὸς τὴν πίστιν ἡ πίστις, καὶ πρὸς τὸν λόγον ὁ λόγος· εὑρήσει γὰρ ὅ γε δικαίως ἐκ παραλλήλου ἀντεξετάζων τὰ θαύματα, μίαν ἐπ᾿ ἀμφοτέρων τὴν χάριν ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ Πνεύματος ἐγγινομένην ἐν ἑκατέρῳ κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τῆς πίστεως. Εἰ δὲ προήκει τῷ χρόνῳ Παῦλος, καὶ πολλαῖς ὕστερον γενεαῖς ἀνεδείχθη Βασίλειος, τῆς θείας ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀνθρώπων οἰκονομίας λέγεις τὸ ἔργον, οὐκ ἀπόδειξιν τῆς κατ᾿ ἀρετὴν ἐλαττώσεως· ἐπεὶ καὶ Μωϋσῆς τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ πολλοῖς χρόνοις μεταγενέστερος, καὶ Σαμουήλ Μωϋσέως, καὶ τούτου Ἠλίας· κἀκείνου ὁ μέγας Ἰωάννης, καὶ μετὰ Ἰωάννην Παῦλος· καὶ μετὰ τοῦτον Βασίλειος. Ωσπερ οὖν ἐν τοῖς προάγουσιν οὐδὲν ὁ χρόνος δευτερεύων, εἰς τὴν κατὰ Θεὸν δόξαν τοὺς ἁγίους ἠλάττωσεν· οὕτω καὶ νῦν ἐν τῷ τῆς ἀρετῆς λόγῳ σιωπάσθω τὰ πρεσβεῖα τοῦ χρόνου, Τὸ γὰρ τοιοῦτον, καθὼς ἔφαμεν, τῆς ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τοῦ Θεοῦ προμηθείας τὴν ἀπόδειξιν ἔχει. Ὁ γὰρ εἰδὼς τὰ πάντα πρὶν γενέσεως αὐτῶν, καθώς φησιν ὁ προφήτης, καὶ τὴν συνδιεξιοῦσαν ταῖς ἀνθρωπίναις γενεαῖς τοῦ διαβόλου κακίαν κατανοῶν, πρόσφορόν τε καὶ κατάλληλον τῷ καθ' ἑκάστην γενεὰν ἀῤῥωστήματι τὸν ἰατρὸν ἑτοιμάζει, ὡς ἂν μὴ ἀθεράπευτον περιίδοι τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν νόσον, δι᾿ ἐρημίαν τῶν διορθουμένων κατακρατοῦσαν τοῦ γένους. Τούτου χάριν ἐπικρατούσης ποτὲ τῆς Χαλδαϊκῆς φιλοσοφίας, οἱ τὴν τῶν ὄντων αἰτίαν ἐν τῇ ποιᾷ κινήσει τῶν ἄστρων ὡρίζοντο, ὑπερκεῖσθαι δέ τινα τῶν φαινομένων δύναμιν ποιητικὴν τῶν ὄντων οὐκ ᾤοντο· τότε τὸν ᾿Ἀβραὰμ ἀναδείκνυσιν, ὃς ἐπιβάθρᾳ τῇ τοιαύτῃ παιδεύσει χρησάμενος, ἀνεζήτησε τὸν διὰ τῶν ὁρωμένων νοούμενον. Καὶ ὁδὸς τοῖς ἐφεξῆς ἐγένετο πίστεως τῆς εἰς τὸν ὄντως ὄντα Θεὸν, αὐτὸς πρὸς ταύτην καθηγησάμενος, διὰ τοῦ καταλιπεῖν τὴν πατρώαν ἀπάτην, καὶ τὴν τῶν αἰσθητηρίων πρὸς τὴν φαινομένην κτίσιν συγγένειαν. Εἶτα τῶν Αἰγυπτίων δαιμονίαν τινὰ καὶ γοητικὴν σοφίαν ἐξευρηκότων, ἐξ ὑποθήκης, οἶμαι, τοῦ ποικίλως δι' ἀπάτης καταβυθίζοντος, ἀνέδειξε τὸν Μωϋσέα τῷ ὑπερβάλλοντι τῆς σοφίας τὴν Αἰγυπτίαν ἀπάτην ἐξαφανίσοντα. Ἐπιγινώσκει δὲ πάντως τὸν λόγον ὁ τὴν Γραφὴν ἐπιστάμενος, πῶς, ἀντεπιδεικνυμένων τοῖς θείοις σημείοις τῶν γοήτων τὰς ἰδίας ἀπάτας, ὑπερέσχε κατὰ κράτος Μωϋσῆς, διὰ τῆς ἄνωθεν συμμαχίας τὴν Αἰγυπτίαν ἰσχὺν πᾶσαν ἐξαφανίσας. Νοεῖς δὲ τοῦτο διά τε τῶν ἄλλων, καὶ τῷ τῶν ῥάβδων αἰνίγματι. Προϊόντος δὲ τοῦ χρόνου, καὶ τῶν Ἰσραηλιτῶν δι᾽ ἀναρχίας ἐν δημοκρατορικῇ συγχύσει πλημμελῶς διακειμένων, ὁ Σαμουὴλ ἀναφαίνεται, κρατῶν δι᾽ ἑαυτοῦ τὸ ὑπήκοον, καὶ τῆς πρὸς τοὺς ἀλλοφύλους ἐπιμιξίας ἀπείργων· εἶτα πρὸς βασιλείας κατάστασιν τὴν ἀναρχίαν μετασκευάσας, συνήθροισεν αὐτὸ περὶ ἑαυτὸ τὸ ἀλλόφυλον, τῆς βασιλικῆς δυναστείας νομοθέτης γενό- ### English translation (Claude) not in time. But let faith be examined beside faith, and word beside word; for whoever fairly compares the wonders side by side will find in both one grace from the same Spirit, present in each according to the proportion of faith. If Paul comes earlier in time, and Basil appeared many generations later, you are speaking of the work of God's dispensation on behalf of mankind, not of proof of inferiority in virtue. For Moses too came many years after Abraham, and Samuel after Moses, and Elijah after him, and the great John after him, and Paul after John, and Basil after Paul. As, then, among those who went before, coming second in time did not lessen the saints at all in glory before God, so now too, in considering virtue, let seniority in time be passed over in silence. For such a thing, as we have said, is a proof of God's providence on behalf of mankind. For he who knows all things before they come to be, as the prophet says, and who perceives the wickedness of the devil that runs its course alongside the human generations, prepares a physician fitting and suited to the illness of each generation, so as not to overlook mankind's disease left untreated, prevailing over the race for lack of those who would correct it. For this reason, when Chaldean philosophy once prevailed, whose adherents defined the cause of things as a certain movement of the stars and did not think that any power that makes the things that are lies beyond what appears, he then brought forward Abraham, who, using such learning as a stepping-stone, sought out the One known through the things that are seen. And he became a road for those after him to faith in the God who truly is, himself leading the way to it by leaving the deceit of his fathers and the kinship of the senses with the visible creation. Then, when the Egyptians had invented a demonic and magical wisdom, at the prompting, I think, of the one who in many ways drowns men through deceit, he brought forward Moses to wipe out the Egyptian deceit by the surpassing greatness of his wisdom. Whoever knows the Scripture certainly recognizes the account: how, when the magicians displayed their own deceits against the divine signs, Moses mightily prevailed, wiping out all the Egyptian power through the alliance from above. You see this through the other signs and in the riddle of the rods. As time went on, and the Israelites were in a faulty state through anarchy, in the confusion of popular rule, Samuel appears, holding the people under his own authority and keeping them from mixing with foreigners; then, having changed their anarchy into the establishment of a kingdom, he gathered the people around itself, becoming the lawgiver of royal power. ### Scripture references - Rom 12:6: allusion, high confidence - Exod 7:10–12: allusion, high confidence - 1 Sam 8:4–22: allusion, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sus 42 (Susanna): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - “The proportion of faith”: Rom 12:6. “Knows all things before they come to be”: Susanna 42 (Dan 13:42 LXX), which Gregory cites as “the prophet.” - Allusions: Exod 7:10–12 (the rods); 1 Sam 7–8 (Samuel and the kingdom). - The scan text reads “συνήθροισεν αὐτὸ περὶ ἑαυτὸ τὸ ἀλλόφυλον” (“gathered the foreign people around itself”), which contradicts the preceding clause; it is translated by sense as the people of Israel. The last word breaks off at the page end (“γενό-”) and the next page does not continue it. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Bas. 791 (PG 46:791–792; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/791). ## Funeral Oration on Basil, Migne cols. 793–794 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/787/#p-793 - Source: PG 46:793–794 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: Gregory continues the list of God's physicians for each age: Elijah against Ahab's idolatry, John the Baptist, and Paul, whose late calling did not keep him from the summit of holiness. ### Greek text Μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ πολλαῖς ὕστερον γενεαῖς, ὅτε ᾿Αχαάβ ἐκεῖνος, τὸ γυναικεῖον ἀνδράποδον, αὐτός τε τῶν πατρῴων ἀπέστη θεσμῶν, γυναικὶ χλιδώσῃ δεδουλωμένος, καὶ τὴν τῶν εἰδώλων πλάνην δι' ἐκείνης ἐπισπασάμενος, συναπέστησεν ἑαυτῷ τὸν Ἰσραηλίτην λαόν τότε ἀναδείκνυσιν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν Ἠλίαν ἀντίῤῥοπον ἔχοντα τῷ μεγέθει τῆς νόσου τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν θεραπεύουσαν δύναμιν, ἄνδρα, ἐν ὑπεροψίᾳ τῆς θεραπείας τοῦ σώματος, αὐχμῶντα τὸ πρόσωπον, καὶ τῷ πλήθει τῶν ἰδίων τριχῶν σκιαζόμενον, ἰδιαστὴν τῷ βίῳ, σεμνὸν προσιδεῖν ἐν ἀμειδεῖ τῷ προσώπῳ, καὶ συννενευμένον τῷ βλέμματι, δέρματι αἰγείῳ τοσοῦτον τοῦ σώματος σκέπ[τ]οντα, ὅσον εὐπρεπέστερόν ἐστι καλυπτόμενον, τῷ δὲ λοιπῷ διακαρτεροῦντα πρὸς τὸν ἀέρα, καὶ οὐδὲν πρὸς τὴν ἐκ τοῦ θάλπους τε καὶ κρύους ἀνωμαλίαν ἐπιστρεφόμενον. ὡς ἀναφανεὶς τῷ λαῷ, τῇ τε διὰ τοῦ λιμοῦ μάστιγι σωφρονίζει τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, καθάπερ τινὶ σκυτάλῃ τῇ τοιαύτῃ πληγῇ τῆς ἀταξίας τοῦ λαοῦ καθαπτόμενος· μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ καὶ τῷ θείῳ πυρὶ τῷ περὶ τὴν ἱερουργίαν γεγενημένῳ θεραπεύει τὴν περὶ τὰ εἴδωλα νόσον. Εἶτα μετ' ἐκεῖνον ἄλλος ἐκεῖνος χρόνοις ὕστερον πλείοσιν ἀναφαίνεται, ὁ ἐν πνεύματι καὶ δυνάμει Ἠλίου διὰ Ζαχαρίου καὶ Ἐλισάβετ ἐπιδημήσας τῷ βίῳ, καὶ ἅπαν τὸ ἔθνος ἐξεκκλησιάζων ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ διὰ κηρύγματος, καὶ τὸ ἐπὶ τῷ αἵματι τῶν προφητῶν λύθρον, καὶ τὰ παντοδαπὰ μιάσματα, καὶ τὰ ποικίλα τῆς ἁμαρτίας δεσμά· οἷς ὑποδημάτων δίκην κατὰ τὸν χρόνον ἐκεῖνον ἅπας ὁ λαὸς ἐνεδέδετο· πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα τῷ τε κηρύγματι τῆς μετανοίας ἐκλύων, καὶ τῷ περιῤῥαντηρίῳ ὕδατι κατὰ τὸν Ἰορδάνην ἐκπλύνων, ἐν οὐδενὶ τὸ ἔλαττον τῶν ἐν ἀρετῇ προωδευκότων ἐν τοῖς κατὰ Θεὸν ἐπεδείξατο. Τί δὲ μετὰ τοῦτον ὁ Παῦλος πρὸς τὸ ἀκρότατον τῆς κατὰ Θεὸν προκοπῆς ἀναδραμεῖν ἐκωλύθη δευτερεύων τῷ χρόνῳ; οὐκ εὐθὺς ἑραστὴς τοῦ θείου κάλλους ἐγένετο, τοῦ τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἐναστράψαντος, ὁμοῦ τῷ τὰς λεπίδας ἀποβαλεῖν τῶν ὀμμάτων, αϊ σύμβολον ἦσαν τοῦ περικαρδίου καλύμματος, ὃ περικείμενον τῷ διορατικῷ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ψυχῶν, τυφλώττειν αὐτοὺς παρασκευάζει πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν; Οὐκ ἐπειδὴ τῷ μυστικῷ λουτρῷ τὸν τῆς ἀγνοίας τε καὶ ἀπάτης ῥύπον ἐναπέθετο, εὐθὺς πρὸς τὸ θειότερον μετεσκευάσθη τὴν φύσιν, καὶ οἷον ἐκδὺς τὴν παχεῖαν ταύτην καὶ σαρκώδη περιβολὴν, αὐτοῖς τοῖς οὐρανίοις ἀδύτοις ἐπεχωρίαζεν, οὐδὲν βαρούμενος τῷ ἐφολκίῳ τοῦ σώματος, καὶ ἐντὸς ἐγένετο τῆς θείας τοῦ παραδείσου φυτείας, ἐκεῖ τὴν ἄῤῥητον μυσταγωγίαν παρὰ τῆς ἀληθείας τελειούμενος, κἀκεῖθεν λαμβάνων τοῦ λόγου τὴν δύναμιν εἰς ὑπακοὴν τῆς πίστεως ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν; Ὅθεν μικροῦ δεῖν τῆς οἰκουμένης πάσης πατήρ γίνεται, διὰ τῶν πνευματικῶν ὠδίνων εἰς φῶς ἐνάγων τοὺς δι᾿ αὐτοῦ μορφουμένους κατὰ Χριστὸν εἰς εὐσέβειαν. Εἰ τοίνυν ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁγίων, ἡ κατὰ τὸν χρόνον τάξις οὐδὲν τῆς κατὰ Θεὸν προκοπῆς ἠλάττω- ### English translation (Claude) After that, many generations later, when that Ahab, the slave of a woman, himself departed from the ancestral ordinances, enslaved to a luxurious wife, and having drawn in the error of idols through her, made the people of Israel depart along with him, then God brings forward Elijah, who had a healing power matching the greatness of the people's disease: a man who, in disdain of care for the body, was squalid in face and shaded by the abundance of his hair, solitary in life, solemn to look at with an unsmiling face and downcast gaze, covering with a goatskin only so much of his body as is more seemly covered, and enduring the open air with the rest, paying no attention to the changes of heat and cold. When he appeared to the people, he brought Israel to its senses with the scourge of famine, laying hold of the people's disorder by such a blow as by a lash; and afterwards he healed the disease of idolatry by the divine fire that came at the sacrifice. Then after him, many years later, another appears, who came into life through Zechariah and Elizabeth in the spirit and power of Elijah, and who gathered the whole nation into assembly in the desert by his preaching; and the stain of the prophets' blood, and defilements of every kind, and the various bonds of sin with which at that time the whole people was bound as with sandals, all such things he loosed by the preaching of repentance and washed away by the sprinkling water at the Jordan; and he showed himself in nothing inferior to those who had advanced in virtue in the things of God. And after him, was Paul hindered from running up to the summit of progress toward God because he came second in time? Did he not at once become a lover of the divine beauty that flashed on his eyes, at the moment he cast the scales from his eyes, which were a symbol of the veil over the heart, which, lying over the discernment of Jewish souls, makes them blind to the truth? When he laid aside in the mystical washing the filth of ignorance and deceit, was he not at once changed in nature to something more divine, and, as if he had put off this thick and fleshly covering, did he not dwell in the very sanctuaries of heaven, in no way weighed down by the burden of the body, and come within the divine planting of paradise, there being initiated by the truth into the ineffable mystery, and from there receiving the power of the word for the obedience of faith among all the nations? Hence he becomes the father of almost the whole inhabited world, through spiritual birth-pangs leading into the light those formed by him in Christ for godliness. If, then, in the case of the other saints, their order in time did nothing to lessen ### Scripture references - 1 Kgs 16:31: allusion, high confidence - 2 Kgs 1:8: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Kgs 17:1: allusion, high confidence - 1 Kgs 18:38: allusion, high confidence - Luke 1:17: allusion, high confidence - Matt 3:1–6: allusion, medium confidence - Acts 9:18: allusion, high confidence - 2 Cor 3:14–15: allusion, high confidence - 2 Cor 12:4: allusion, high confidence - Rom 1:5: allusion, high confidence - Gal 4:19: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Cor 4:15: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Allusions: 1 Kgs 16:31–33 (Ahab and Jezebel); 2 Kgs 1:8 (Elijah's appearance); 1 Kgs 17:1 (famine); 1 Kgs 18:38 (fire); Luke 1:17 (spirit and power of Elijah); Matt 3:1–6; Acts 9:18 (scales); 2 Cor 3:14–15 (the veil); 2 Cor 12:4 (paradise, ineffable words); Rom 1:5 (obedience of faith); 1 Cor 4:15 and Gal 4:19 (spiritual fatherhood and birth-pangs). - The remark on the veil over Jewish souls follows 2 Cor 3:14–15 and is translated as written. “The mystical washing” is baptism. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Bas. 793 (PG 46:793–794; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/793). ## Funeral Oration on Basil, Migne cols. 795–796 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/787/#p-795 - Source: PG 46:795–796 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: Basil ranks with the earlier saints; God raised him against the Arian heresy, which Gregory calls a disguised idolatry worshipping a creature as the Son, backed by the emperors. ### Greek text σεν, ὁμοτίμως ἑκάστῳ τῆς χάριτος πρὸς τὴν τελειότητα συνεργούσης· εἰκότως τολμῶμεν καὶ τὸν ἐν τῇ καθ' ἡμᾶς γενεᾷ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἄνθρωπον, τὸ μέγα σκεῦος τῆς ἀληθείας, Βασίλειον, τοῖς ὀνομαστοῖς ἐκείνοις ἁγίοις ἐναρίθμιον εἶναι λέγειν, οὐδὲν τῆς χρονικῆς ἀκολουθίας οὔτε τὴν ὑψηλὴν ἐκείνου πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἐπιθυμίαν, οὔτε τὴν θείαν χάριν πρὸς τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς τελείωσιν ἐμποδιζούσης ὡς ἂν μὴ τῆς θείας οἰκονομίας ὁ σκοπός τι παραβλαβείη, ἤ τι παρὰ τὴν τοῦ χρόνου αἰτίαν ἐλαττωθείη τῆς παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ συνεισφερομένης συμμαχίας πρὸς τὸ μυστήριον. Πάντως δὲ οὐδεὶς ἀγνοεῖ τὸν σκοπὸν τῆς κατὰ τὸν χρόνον τοῦτον τοῦ διδασκάλου ἡμῶν ἀναδείξεως. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἡ περὶ τὰ εἴδωλα τῶν ἀνθρώπων μανία τῷ κηρύγματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ κατεσβέσθη, καὶ πάντα ἦν ἐν ἐρειπίοις ἤδη καὶ ἀφανισμῷ τὰ τῶν ματαίων σεβάσματα, διὰ πάσης σχεδὸν τῆς οἰκουμένης τοῦ κηρύγματος τῆς εὐσεβείας φοιτήσαντος, ὥστε τὸν ἐπικρατοῦντα τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἀπάτης πανταχόθεν ἐξείργεσθαι, τῷ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὀνόματι τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐξελαυνόμενον· σοφὸς δὲ εἰς κακίαν ὧν ὁ τῆς κακίας εὑρετὴς, οὐκ ἠπόρησεν πονηρᾶς ἐπινοίας, ὥστε πάλιν ὑποχείριον ποιῆσαι δι᾿ ἀπάτης ἑαυτῷ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον· ἀλλ᾽ ἐν προσχήματι Χριστιανισμοῦ τὴν εἰδωλολατρείαν κατὰ τὸ λεληθὸς ἐπανήγαγεν, πείσας τοῖς ἰδίοις σοφίσμασι τοὺς πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁρῶντας μὴ ἀποστῆναι τῆς κτίσεως, ἀλλὰ ταύτην προσκυνεῖν καὶ ταύτην σέβεσθαι, καὶ Θεὸν τὸ ποίημα οἴεσθαι, τῇ τοῦ Υἱοῦ κλήσει ὀνομαζόμενον. Εἰ δὲ ἐκ μὴ ὄντων ἐστὶν ἡ κτίσις, καὶ τῆς θείας οὐσίας κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ἠλλοτρίωται φύσιν, μηδένα ποιεῖσθαι τούτου λόγον, ἀλλὰ τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὄνομα ἐπιθέντας τῇ κτίσει ταύτην προσκυνεῖν, ταύτῃ λατρεύειν, ἐν ταύτῃ τὰς ἐλπίδας τῆς σωτηρίας ἔχειν, παρὰ ταύτης ἀναμένειν τὴν κρίσιν. Καὶ ὅλος ἐμπεσὼν ὁ ἀποστάτης ἀνθρώποις πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ τὴν κακίαν ἱκανοῖς χωρῆσαι, ᾿Αρείῳ τε λέγω καὶ ᾿Αετίῳ, Εὐνομίῳ, Εὐδοξίῳ, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις καὶ πολλοῖς ἄλλοις, δι' ὧν ἐκλείπουσαν ἤδη τὴν εἰδωλολατρείαν πάλιν, καθὼς εἴρηται, τοῦ Χριστιανισμοῦ ἐπανήγαγεν, καὶ κατεκράτει τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἡ νόσος, τῶν κτίσει λατρευόντων παρὰ τὸν κτίσαντα, ὡς καὶ τῇ συμμαχίᾳ τῶν τότε βασιλέων τὴν ἀπάτην κρατύνεσθαι, καὶ πάσας τὰς ὑπερεχούσας ἀρχὰς τῆς τοιαύτης ὑπερμάχεσθαι νόσου. Καὶ πάντων μικροῦ δεῖν ἀνθρώπων πρὸς τὸ ἐπικρατοῦν μετατεθέντων, τότε παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀναδείκνυται ὁ μέγας Βασίλειος, καθάπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ ᾿Αχαάβ ὁ Ἠλίας· καὶ τῆς ἱερωσύνης ἤδη τρόπον τινὰ πεπτωκυίας ἀντιλαμβανόμενος, ὥσπερ τινὰ λύχνον ἐκλελοιπότα τὸν τῆς πίστεως λόγον διὰ τῆς ἐνοικούσης αὐτῷ χάριτος ἀναλάμψαι πάλιν ἐποίησεν. Καὶ οἷόν τις πυρσὸς τοῖς νύκτωρ διαπλανωμένοις κατὰ τὸ πέλαγος ὑπερφανεὶς τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, πάντας πρὸς τὴν εὐθεῖαν ὁδὸν ἐπέστρεψεν, ὑπάρχοις συμπλεκόμενος, στρατηλάταις συμμίσγων, βασιλεῦσι ### English translation (Claude) their progress toward God, since grace works equally with each toward perfection, we may fittingly dare to say that the man of God in our own generation, the great vessel of the truth, Basil, is to be counted among those famous saints, since the sequence of time hindered neither his lofty desire for God nor divine grace for the perfecting of his soul; so that the aim of the divine dispensation might not be harmed at all, nor anything of the help he contributed to the mystery be lessened because of time. No one, surely, is unaware of the aim of our teacher's appearance at this time. When the madness of men about idols had been quenched by the preaching of Christ, and all the objects of worship of the vain were already in ruins and obliteration, the preaching of godliness having spread through almost the whole world, so that the one who rules over human deceit was shut out on every side, driven from the world by the name of Christ; the inventor of evil, being wise for evil, was not at a loss for a wicked device to make mankind his subject again through deceit. Under the guise of Christianity he secretly brought idolatry back, persuading by his own sophistries those who looked to him not to depart from the creation, but to worship and revere it, and to think the thing made God, as long as it is called by the name of Son. And if the creation is from things that are not, and is estranged from the divine substance by its own nature, they were to take no account of this, but, putting the name of Christ on the creation, to worship it, serve it, place in it their hopes of salvation, and await judgment from it. And the apostate, falling wholly upon men able to hold all his wickedness, Arius I mean and Aetius, Eunomius, Eudoxius, and many others besides, brought back through them, as has been said, the idolatry that was already dying out, under the name of Christianity; and the disease of those who serve the creature rather than the Creator prevailed over men, so that the deceit was strengthened by the alliance of the emperors of that time, and all the highest offices fought for such a disease. When almost all men had gone over to the prevailing view, then the great Basil is brought forward by God, like Elijah in the days of Ahab; and taking hold of the priesthood, which had already in a way fallen, he made the word of faith shine again, like a lamp that had gone out, through the grace that dwelt in him. And appearing above the church like a beacon to those wandering at night on the open sea, he turned all back to the straight road, contending with prefects, mixing with generals, speaking boldly ### Scripture references - Rom 1:25: allusion, high confidence - 1 Kgs 18:17–18: allusion, low confidence ### Translation notes - Gregory's charge is that the Arians (Arius, Aetius, Eunomius, Eudoxius), by calling the Son a creature made from nothing yet worshipping him, revive idolatry; the polemic is translated as written. - Allusion: Rom 1:25 (serving the creature rather than the Creator). - Two displaced OCR lines are restored by logged corrections: “Θεὸν ἐπιθυμίαν, οὔτε τὴν θείαν χάριν πρὸς τὴν τῆς” and “οἴεσθαι, τῇ τοῦ Υἱοῦ κλήσει ὀνομαζόμενον. Εἰ δὲ ἐκ,” each printed in the middle of another word. “Under the name of Christianity” translates “τοῦ Χριστιανισμοῦ” by sense. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Bas. 795 (PG 46:795–796; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/795). ## Funeral Oration on Basil, Migne cols. 797–798 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/787/#p-797 - Source: PG 46:797–798 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: Basil defied emperors and prefects, unafraid of confiscation, exile, or death; Gregory begins comparing him with Paul in the love of God with the whole heart. ### Greek text παῤῥησιαζόμενος, ἐπ' ἐκκλησίαις βοῶν, τοὺς πόῤῥωθεν ἀφεστηκότας, καθ' ὁμοιότητα Παύλου, δι' ἐπιστολῶν προσαγόμενος, ἐκφεύγων τὰς τῶν συμπλεκομένων λαβὰς, οὐκ ἔχων ὅπου κρατηθῇ παρὰ τῶν ἀντιπάλων. Κρείττων μὲν γὰρ ἦν τῶν δημευόντων, αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν διὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα τῆς βασιλείας δημεύσας. Τοῦ κατὰ τὴν ἐξορίαν φόβου ἀπήλλακτο, μίαν πατρίδα ἀνθρώπων, τὸν παράδεισον εἶναι λέγων, πᾶσαν δὲ τὴν γῆν ὡς κοινὴν τῆς φύσεως ἐξορίαν βλέπων. Ὁ δὲ καθ' ἡμέραν ἀποθνήσκων, καὶ πάντοτε διὰ νεκρώσεως ἑκὼν δαπανώμενος, πότε ἂν ἐφοβήθη τὸν θάνατον τὸν παρὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἀπειλούμενον; ᾧ γε συμφορὰ ἦν τὸ μὴ πολλάκις δύνασθαι τοὺς τῶν μαρτύρων ἀγῶνας ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀληθείας μιμήσασθαι, ἐνὶ θανάτῳ ὑπεζευγμένης τῆς φύσεως· ὅς ποτε, τῶν ὑπάρχων τινὶ τὸ ἦπαρ ἐξοίσειν αὐτοῦ τῶν σπλάγχνων καταπληκτικῶς ἀπειλήσαντι, μειδιάματι τὴν ἀπαίδευτον ἀπειλὴν καταχλευάζων φησί Χάριν εἴσομαί σοι τῆς προαιρέσεως. Καὶ γὰρ οὐ μετρίως ἀνιᾷ τὸ ἧπαρ τοῖς σπλάγχνοις ἐγκείμενον. Ἐκβαλὼν οὖν αὐτὸ, καθὼς ἡπείλησας, τοῦ λυποῦντος ἐλευθερώσεις τὸ σῶμα. Τί τοίνυν αὐτοῦ τὸ μεθ᾽ ἑτέρους ἁγίους ἐπιδημῆσαι τῷ βίῳ κατασμικρύνει τὴν κατὰ Θεὸν εὐδοκίμησιν, ὡς διὰ τοῦτο τῶν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἁγίοις ἑορτῶν ἐλάττω δοκεῖν εἶναι τὴν ἐπὶ τούτῳ πανήγυριν; Σκόπησον γὰρ, εἰ δοκεῖ, πρὸς ἕνα τινὰ τῶν προλαβόντων ἁγίων τὸν τούτου βίον ἀντεξετάζων. Ἠγάπησε τὸν Θεὸν ὁ Παῦλος· τοῦτο γὰρ δὴ τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὸ κεφάλαιον, τὸ τῆς ἀγάπης λέγω· ἀφ᾿ ἧς πᾶσα πίστις, καὶ ἐλπὶς πᾶσα, καὶ τὸ ἐξ ὑπομονῆς προσδοκώμενον, καὶ τὸ ἐν παντὶ καλῷ ἀμετάπτωτον, καὶ τὸ μετὰ παντὸς πνευματικοῦ χαρίσματος τὸ πλέον ἔχειν. ᾿Αλλ' ἐξετάσωμεν πόσον ἦν ἐν Παύλῳ τῆς πρὸς Θεὸν ἀγάπης τὸ μέτρον. Ἐρεῖς πάντως, ὅτι ἐξ ὅλης καρδίας καὶ ἐξ ὅλης ψυχῆς, καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς διανοίας αὐτοῦ ἠγάπησε Θεόν. Τοῦτον γὰρ ἔδωκε τὸν ἀκρότατον τῆς πρὸς Θεὸν ἀγάπης ὅρον ὁ νόμος. Οὐκοῦν ὁ πᾶσαν ἑαυτοῦ τὴν καρδίαν τε καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ τὴν διάνοιαν άναθεὶς τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ πρὸς ἄλλο μηδὲν τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον τοῦτον σπουδαζομένων ἐπιῤῥεπῶς διακείμενος, ἐν τῷ ἀκροτάτῳ γίνεται τῆς ἀγάπης ὄρῳ. Εἰ μὲν οὖν ἔχει τις δεῖξαι τὸν τοῦ διδασκάλου βίον περί τι τῶν κατὰ τὸν κόσμον τοῦτον σπουδαζομένων ἔχοντα τὴν ῥοπὴν, οἷον περὶ πλοῦτον, ἢ δυναστείαν, ἢ κενῆς δόξης ἐπιθυμίαν (τὰς γὰρ ἀνδραποδωδεστέρας ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ τῶν ἡδονῶν, οὐδὲ λέγειν ἄξιον εἰκός ἐστιν), ὅ τι ἂν τούτων εὑρεθῇ σπουδαζόμενον, ἐλαττοῦσθαι λέγειν δεῖ κατ᾿ ἐκεῖνο τῆς πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἀγάπης τὸ μέτρον, τῆς ἐπιθυμητικῆς αὐτοῦ διαθέσεως ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ πρὸς τὰ ὑλώδη μεταῤῥυείσης. Εἰ δὲ πάντων τούτων καὶ τῶν τοιούτων ἐχθρός τις ἦν καὶ πολέμιος, πρότερον μὲν τοῦ ἰδίου βίου πᾶσαν ἐξορίζων τὴν ἐμπαθὴ περὶ ταῦτα διάθεσιν, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ τὴν κοινὴν ### English translation (Claude) to emperors, crying out in churches, bringing near by letters, like Paul, those who stood far off, slipping out of the holds of those who grappled with him, giving his opponents nothing to grip. For he was stronger than those who confiscate property, since he had himself confiscated his own for the hope of the kingdom. He was free from the fear of exile, saying that men have one native land, paradise, and regarding the whole earth as the common exile of our nature. And he who died daily, and was always willingly spent in mortification, when would he have feared the death threatened by his enemies? For him it was a misfortune not to be able to imitate many times over the martyrs' contests for the truth, since nature is yoked to one death. Once, when one of the prefects threatened, to terrify him, to tear his liver out of his body, he mocked the uneducated threat with a smile and said: “I shall be grateful to you for your intention. For the liver lying in my body troubles me not a little. By casting it out, as you have threatened, you will free my body from what pains it.” How then does his having come into life after other saints diminish his good standing before God, so that the festival in his honour should seem less than the feasts of the saints? Consider, if you like, comparing his life with one of the saints who went before. Paul loved God; for this is the sum of good things, love I mean, from which comes all faith and all hope, and what is awaited with patience, and steadfastness in every good, and having the greater share of every spiritual gift. But let us examine how great was the measure of love for God in Paul. You will surely say that he loved God with his whole heart and with his whole soul and with his whole mind. For the law gave this as the highest limit of love for God. So he who has devoted his whole heart and soul and mind to God, and is not inclined toward anything else pursued in this life, reaches the highest limit of love. If, then, anyone can show the teacher's life inclining toward any of the things pursued in this world, such as wealth or power or the desire for empty glory (for the more slavish pleasures it is not even fitting to mention in his case), whatever of these is found to have been pursued, one must say that the measure of his love for God was lessened by that much, his desiring disposition having flowed away from God to material things. But if he was an enemy and opponent of all these and the like, first banishing from his own life every passionate disposition toward them, and then cleansing the common ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 15:31: allusion, high confidence - 2 Cor 12:15: echo, low confidence - Deut 6:5: allusion, high confidence - Matt 22:37: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The prefect who threatened Basil is Modestus, praetorian prefect under Valens (not named here). - Allusions: Eph 2:13, 17 (those far off); 1 Cor 15:31 (dying daily); 2 Cor 12:15 (spent); Deut 6:5 and Matt 22:37 (the whole heart, soul, and mind). ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Bas. 797 (PG 46:797–798; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/797). ## Funeral Oration on Basil, Migne cols. 799–800 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/787/#p-799 - Source: PG 46:799–800 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: Since Basil loved God with his whole heart as Paul did, and love contains every other virtue, he lacked none of Paul's virtues; even Paul's rapture to the third heaven was not in the body. ### Greek text ζωὴν ἐκκαθαίρων τῷ τε διδακτικῷ λόγῳ καὶ τῷ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ὑποδείγματι· δῆλον ἂν εἴη, ὅτι ἐκεῖνο τῆς πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἀγάπης τὸ μέτρον εἶχεν ἐν ἑαυτῷ, οὗ τὸ πλέον οὐκ ἐχώρει ἡ φύσις. Ὁ γὰρ ἐξ ὅλης καρδίας τε καὶ ψυχῆς καὶ διανοίας τὸν Θεὸν ἀγαπῶν, πῶς ἂν ὑπερτιθείη πρὸς τὸ πλέον τῆς ἀγάπης μέτρον, ὁ χώραν οὐκ ἔχει; Οὐκοῦν εἰ ἕνα τῆς τελείας ἀγάπης ὅρον ἐμάθομεν, τὸν ἐξ ὅλης καρδίας τῷ Θεῷ ἀνακείμενον, ἠγάπων δὲ Παῦλος καὶ Βασίλειος ἐν ὅλῃ καρδίᾳ τῷ Θεῷ ἀνακείμενοι, ἓν μέτρον εἶναι τῆς ἀγάπης ἐν ἀμφοτέροις εἰπεῖν τις τολμήσας, οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοι τῆς ἀληθείας. Ἀλλὰ μὴν πάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν μείζονα τὴν ἀγάπην ὅ τε ᾿Απόστολος λέγει, καὶ ἐπιψηφίζει τὸ ὑψηλὸν Εὐαγγέλιον. Ὁ μὲν οὖν ᾿Απόστολος προφητείας αὐτὴν καὶ γνώσεως προτιμοτέραν λέγων, πίστεως δὲ παγιωτέραν, καὶ ἐλπίδος διαρκεστέραν, καὶ πάντοτε ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ διαμένουσαν, ἧς ἄνευ ἀνόνητον εἶναι πᾶν τὸ ἐπ᾿ ἀγαθοῦ σπουδαζόμενον· ὁ δὲ Κύριος πάντα νόμον, καὶ πάντα τὰ μυστήρια τὰ προφητικὰ τοῦ τοιούτου ἐξάπτων χαρίσματος, πάντων πρωτεύειν τὴν ἀγάπην καὶ αὐτὸς ἀποφαίνεται. Εἰ οὖν ἐν τῷ ὑπερέχοντι καὶ περιληπτικῷ τῶν κατορθωμάτων οὐκ ἀπολείπεται τοῦ μεγάλου Παύλου ἄρα καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις πᾶσιν, ὧν ἡ ἀγάπη καθηγεῖται, καὶ ὅσα ἐκ ταύτης ἐκφύεται, πάντως οὐκ ἔλαττον ἔχων ἀναφανήσεται. "Ωσπερ γὰρ ὁ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως μετέχων, ἐν πᾶσίν ἐστι τοῖς τῆς φύσεως ἰδιώμασιν οὕτως καὶ ὁ τὸ τέλειον τῆς ἀγάπης ἐν ἑαυτῷ κατορθώσας, πάντα ὅσα συνθεωρεῖται ταύτῃ τῶν ἀγαθῶν εἴδη, μετὰ τοῦ πρωτοτύπου τῶν κατορθωμάτων ἔχει. Εἴτε γὰρ πίστις ἐστὶν ἡ σώζουσα, εἴτε διὰ τῆς ἐλπίδος σωζόμεθα, εἴτε δι' ὑπομονῆς τὴν χάριν ἀπεκδεχόμεθα, ἡ ἀγάπη πάντα πιστεύει, καὶ πάντα ἐλπίζει, καὶ πάντα ὑπομένει, καθώς φησιν ὁ ᾿Απόστολος. Καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα, ἵνα μὴ τὰ καθ᾿ ἕκαστον λέγοντες διατρίβωμεν, τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἀγάπην ῥίζης βλάστημα γίνεται, ὅσα τῷ τῆς ἀρετῆς λόγῳ σπουδάζεται ὥστε τὸν ταύτην ἔχοντα, μηδενὸς ἐνδεῶς ἔχειν τῶν ἄλλων. Ταύτην ἔχων ὁ μέγας Βασίλειος, οὐδενὸς ἄρα τῶν ἀγαθῶν δι᾿ αὐτῆς ἀπελείπετο. Εἰ δὲ πάντα εἶχεν, ἐν οὐδενὶ πάντως ἠλάττωτο. ᾿Αλλ' ἐρεῖ τις πάντως, ὅτι τρίτον οὐρανὸν εἶδεν ἐκεῖνος, καὶ ἡρπάγη εἰς τὸν παράδεισον, καὶ ἤκουσεν ἄῤῥητα ῥήματα, ἃ οὐκ ἐξὸν ἀνθρώπῳ λαλῆσαι. ᾿Αλλ' οὐδὲ ἐκεῖνος φανερῶς διὰ τῆς σαρκὸς ταύτης τὴν τοιαύτην χάριν ἐδέξατο. Οὐ γὰρ ἐπικρύπτεται τὴν ἀμφιβολίαν λέγων· Εἴτε ἐν σώματι οὐκ οἶδα, εἴτε ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματος οὐκ οἶδα ὁ Θεὸς οἶδεν. Καὶ περὶ τούτου τολμήσας εἴποι τις ἂν, ὅτι ἐν σώματι τοιοῦτον μὲν οὐδὲν εἶδεν, τῇ δὲ ἀσωμάτῳ καὶ νοητῇ θεωρίᾳ οὐκ ἔστιν ὅ τι τού- ### English translation (Claude) life by his teaching word and his own example, it would be clear that he had in himself that measure of love for God beyond which nature has no room. For how could one who loves God with his whole heart and soul and mind go on to a greater measure of love, which has no room? So if we have learned one limit of perfect love, being devoted to God with the whole heart, and Paul and Basil loved, devoted to God with the whole heart, whoever dares to say that the measure of love in both is one would not miss the truth. Moreover, both the apostle says and the lofty Gospel confirms that love is greater than all good things. The apostle says it is to be preferred to prophecy and knowledge, firmer than faith, more lasting than hope, and always abiding the same, and that without it everything pursued for the good is useless; and the Lord, hanging the whole law and all the prophetic mysteries on this gift, himself declares that love is first of all. If, then, he does not fall short of the great Paul in the most excellent of achievements, which embraces the others, then surely in all the other things which love leads and which grow from it he will appear to have no less. For just as one who shares in human nature has all the properties of the nature, so one who has achieved the perfection of love in himself has, together with the chief of achievements, all the forms of good seen along with it. For whether it is faith that saves, or we are saved by hope, or we wait for grace through patience, love believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things, as the apostle says. And all the other things pursued for the sake of virtue, not to linger by naming each one, become shoots from the root of love, so that the one who has it lacks none of the others. The great Basil, then, having this, fell short through it of none of the good things. And if he had all things, he surely was inferior in nothing. But someone will surely say that Paul saw the third heaven, was caught up into paradise, and heard ineffable words which it is not permitted to a human being to speak. But even he did not clearly receive such a grace through this flesh. For he does not hide his doubt when he says: “Whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know; God knows.” And someone might dare to say about this man that, while he saw nothing of the kind in the body, there was nothing of these things ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 13:2: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 13:13: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 13:7: quotation, high confidence - Matt 22:40: allusion, high confidence - Rom 8:24: allusion, medium confidence - 2 Cor 12:2–4: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Allusions and quotations: 1 Cor 13:2, 7–8, 13; Matt 22:40; Rom 8:24 (saved in hope); 2 Cor 12:2–4 (quoted). ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Bas. 799 (PG 46:799–800; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/799). ## Funeral Oration on Basil, Migne cols. 801–802 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/787/#p-801 - Source: PG 46:801–802 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: Basil matched Paul in spreading the Gospel and in mortification, and matched John the Baptist in austerity and steadfastness, never a reed shaken by the wind. ### Greek text των ἀφῆκεν ἀθέατον. Μάρτυς δὲ τούτων ὁ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ λόγος, ὅν τε ἐφ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ διεξῄει, καὶ ὃν κατέλιπεν ἐν συγγράμμασιν. Ἐκεῖνος ἀπὸ Ἱεροσολύμων ἐπὶ τὸ Ἰλλυρικὸν ἐν κύκλῳ περιελθὼν, πᾶσι τοῖς διὰ μέσου τὸν εὐαγγελικὸν ἐκήρυξε λόγον καὶ ὁ τούτου λόγος καὶ τὸ κήρυγμα πᾶσαν μικροῦ δεῖν τὴν οἰκουμένην διέλαβεν, ἐπ᾽ ἴσης τοῖς Παύλου λόγοις παρὰ πάντων καὶ αὐτὸ σπουδαζόμενον. Παρείσθω δὲ τὰ λοιπὰ δι' ὧν ὁ βίος τούτου πρὸς τὸν ἐκείνου συμφέρεται, οἷον ἐσταυρώθη τῷ κόσμῳ ἐκεῖνος, καὶ τούτῳ ὁ κόσμος. Ἑνέκρωσε τὸ σῶμα ἐκεῖνος, ἐτελείωσε καὶ οὗτος ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ τὴν δύναμιν. Χριστὸς ἦν τὸ ζῇν ἀμφοτέροις, καὶ ὁμοίως ἑκατέρῳ κέρδος ὁ θάνατος, καὶ προτιμοτέρα τοῦ πεπλανημένου βίου ἡ πρὸς τὸν Δεσπότην ἀνάλυσις. Η καὶ τὸν Ἰωάννην ἀντιπαραδεῖξαι τῷ διδασκάλῳ δοκεῖ; Ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν προτερεύειν ἐκεῖνον, τῷ ἐν γεννητοῖς γυναικῶν καὶ περισσότερον ἔχειν τοῦ προφήτου τῆς θείας φωνῆς μαρτυρούσης, μανίας ἂν εἴη καὶ ἀσεβείας ἅμα ἄλλον ἀντιπαρεξαγαγεῖν τῷ τοιούτῳ βίῳ διὰ συγκρίσεως ἀλλὰ τοῦ τοσούτου καὶ τοιούτου καὶ τὸ κατόπιν ἐλθεῖν, τῆς ἀνωτάτω μακαριότητος τὴν ἀπόδειξιν ἔχει. Ούτωσὶ δὲ τὸν λόγον κατανοήσωμεν· Οὐκ ἦν οὔτε ἐν μαλακοῖς ἱματίοις ὁ Ἰωάννης, οὔτε κάλαμος ἦν ἀνέμοις ένσαλευόμενος. Ἠσπάζετο δὲ πρὸ τῶν οἰκουμένων τὴν ἔρημον, καὶ πάλιν τοῖς οἰκουμένοις ἐπεχωρίαζεν. Μή τις ἄρα ἐπισκήψει τῷ λόγῳ, εἰ τοῦτο προσμαρτυρήσει καὶ τῷ διδασκάλῳ ἡμῶν ἡ ἀλήθεια, ὡς ἐν τούτοις αὐτὸν τοῦ μεγάλου Ἰωάννου μὴ ἀπολείπεσθαι; Τίς οὐκ οἶδεν ὅπως μαλακήν τε καὶ τεθρυμμένην τοῦ βίου δίαιταν πολεμίαν ἡγήσατο, ἐν παντὶ τὸ καρτερικὸν καὶ ἀνδρῶδες πρὸ τῶν ἡδέων θηρώμενος, ἡλίῳ θαλπόμενος, κρύει παραβαλλόμενος, νηστείαις καὶ ἐγκρατείαις καταγυμνάζων τὸ σῶμα, ταῖς πόλεσιν ὡς ἐν ἐρήμοις ἐνδιατρίβων (οὐδὲν εἰς ἀρετὴν ἐκ τῆς συντυχίας παραβλαπτόμενος), καὶ πόλεις τὰς ἐρημίας ἀπεργαζόμενος; Οὔτε γὰρ ἡ μετὰ τῶν πολλῶν διαγωγὴ τῆς ἀκριβοῦς τι καὶ ἀσφαλοῦς πολιτείας παρέτρεψεν οὔτε, εἰ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐπὶ τὴν ἐσχατιὰν ἐχώρησεν, γυμνωθῆναι τῶν ἐπ' ὠφελείᾳ συνόντων οἷός τε ἦν· ὥστε καὶ ἐπὶ τούτου, καθ' ὁμοιότητα τοῦ Βαπτιστοῦ, πόλιν τὴν ἔρημον γενέσθαι στενοχωρουμένην τοῖς ἐπιῤῥέουσιν. Τὸ δὲ μὴ κάλαμον αὐτὸν εἶναι δι' εὐκολίας πρὸς τὰς ἐναντίας ὑπολήψεις μετακλινόμενον, δείκνυσι τὸ ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς παρὰ τὸν βίον κεκριμένοις αὐτῷ ἀμετάπτωτον. Ἤρεσεν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἡ ἀκτημοσύνη· πέτρα τις ἄσειστος ἡ κρίσις ἐγένετο. Ἐπεθύμει διὰ καθαρότητος προσεγγίζειν τῷ Θεῷ· ὅρος ἦν ἡ ἐπιθυμία αὕτη, οὐ κάλαμος. Οὐδέποτε γὰρ πρὸς τὰς ἀντιπνοίας τῶν πειρασμῶν ὑπεκλίνετο. Τῆς δὲ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἀγάπης τὸ πάγιον μόνου ἦν τοῦ ᾿Αποστόλου διὰ τῶν ἰδίων λόγων ἐνδείξασθαι, τῷ μήτε τὴν ζωὴν, μήτε τὸν θάνατον, μὴ ἐνεστῶτα, μὴ μέλλοντα, μήτε τινὰ κτίσιν ἑτέραν δύνασθαι αὐτοῦ τὴν καρδίαν ἀπὸ τῆς πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἀγάπης παρώσασθαι. Οὕτω καὶ ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς κατ' ἀρετὴν αὐτῷ κεκριμένοις, οὐδαμῶς καλαμώδης τις ἦν καὶ ἀβέβαιος τὴν διάνοιαν, ἀλλὰ διὰ πάντων ὁ βίος εἶχε τὸ ἐν τοῖς καλοῖς ἀμετάπτωτον. Παῤῥη- ### English translation (Claude) that he left unseen in bodiless and intellectual contemplation. Witness to this is his teaching, both what he expounded in person and what he left in his writings. Paul, going around from Jerusalem as far as Illyricum, preached the word of the Gospel to all in between; and this man's word and preaching reached almost the whole world, being studied by all on equal terms with Paul's words. Let the rest be passed over in which his life agrees with Paul's: that Paul was crucified to the world, and this man too to the world; that Paul mortified his body, and this man too brought his power to perfection in weakness. For both, to live was Christ, and for each death was gain alike, and departing to the Master was preferable to a life of wandering. Or does it seem right to set John beside the teacher? But that John comes first, since the divine voice testifies that among those born of women he is greater, even more than a prophet, it would be madness and impiety at once to bring forward anyone else in comparison with such a life; yet even to come after one so great and so excellent is proof of the highest blessedness. Let us consider the argument in this way. John was not in soft clothing, nor was he a reed shaken by the winds. He welcomed the desert in preference to inhabited places, and again he visited the inhabited places. Will anyone find fault with my speech if the truth testifies this also of our teacher, that in these things he did not fall short of the great John? Who does not know how he counted a soft and pampered way of life his enemy, in everything seeking out endurance and manliness rather than pleasures, warmed by the sun, exposed to the cold, training his body by fasts and self-control, living in the cities as if in deserts (suffering no harm to his virtue from the company), and making the deserts into cities? For neither did living among the many turn him at all from his exact and secure way of life, nor, if he withdrew by himself to a remote place, could he be stripped of those who were with him for their benefit; so that in his case too, as with the Baptist, the desert became a city crowded with those who streamed to it. That he was not a reed easily bending toward opposite opinions is shown by his steadfastness in all that he had decided for his life. Poverty pleased him from the beginning; the decision became an unshaken rock. He desired to draw near to God through purity; this desire was a mountain, not a reed. For he never bent before the contrary winds of temptations. The firmness of his love for God only the apostle's own words could show: that neither life nor death, nor things present, nor things to come, nor any other creature could push his heart away from his love for God. So in all he had decided in virtue he was in no way reedlike and unsteady in mind, but through everything his life had steadfastness in what is good. John speaks ### Scripture references - Rom 15:19: allusion, high confidence - Gal 6:14: allusion, high confidence - 2 Cor 12:9: allusion, high confidence - Phil 1:21–23: allusion, high confidence - Matt 11:7–11: allusion, high confidence - Rom 8:38–39: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Allusions: Rom 15:19 (Jerusalem to Illyricum); Gal 6:14; 1 Cor 9:27; 2 Cor 12:9; Phil 1:21–23; Matt 11:7–11 and Luke 7:24–28 (John the Baptist); Rom 8:38–39. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Bas. 801 (PG 46:801–802; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/801). ## Funeral Oration on Basil, Migne cols. 803–804 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/787/#p-803 - Source: PG 46:803–804 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: Basil's bold stand against the emperor Valens for the faith surpasses John's rebuke of Herod; Elijah's chariot and miracles are beyond human imitation. ### Greek text σιάζεται πρὸς τὸν Ἡρώδην Ἰωάννης, καὶ οὗτος πρὸς Οὐάλεντα. ᾿Αντεξετάσωμεν δὲ πρὸς ἄλληλα τῶν ἀνδρῶν τούτων τὰ ἀξιώματα. Ὁ μὲν μέρους τινὸς τῆς Παλαιστίνης ψήφῳ Ῥωμαίων τὴν δυναστείαν κεκλήρωτο· τούτου δὲ τῆς ἀρχῆς ὅρος ἦν ὅλος μικροῦ δεῖν ὁ τοῦ ἡλίου δρόμος, ἐκ τῶν τῆς Περσίδος ὅρων, εἰς Βρεττανούς τε καὶ τὰ ἔσχατα τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ παρατείνων. Καὶ τῆς μὲν πρὸς τὸν Ἡρώδην παῤῥησίας ἦν ὁ σκοπὸς, μὴ παρανομεῖν κατὰ γυναίου τινὸς, ἀλλὰ κολάζειν ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν, ὡς ἀπειρημένην τῷ νόμῳ. Ἡ δὲ πρὸς Οὐάλεντα τοῦ διδασκάλου παῤῥησία τίς ἦν; Ασυλόν τε καὶ ἀμίαντον τὴν πίστιν ἐᾶν, ἧς ἡ παρανομία πάσης τῆς οἰκουμένης ἄγος ἐγίνετο. Αντιθέτω τοίνυν ὁ δίκαιος τῶν πραγμάτων ἐξεταστὴς τήν τε δυναστείαν τῇ δυναστεία, καὶ τὸν σκοπὸν τῆς παῤῥησίας ταύτης πρὸς τὴν παῤῥησίαν ἐκείνην. Ἐκεῖ μὲν γὰρ ἐν τῷ σώματι τοῦ Ἡρώδου τὸ ἄγος περιωρίζετο· ἐνταῦθα δὲ πάσης ἦν ἀδικία τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως, ἡ παρανομία τῆς πίστεως. Ἐκεῖνος μέχρι θανάτου ἐμμένει τῇ παῤῥησίᾳ· καὶ τούτῳ πέρας τῆς παῤῥησίας ἐξορία γίνεται, τοῦτο τοῦ βασιλέως ἀντὶ τῆς ἐπιθανατίου ψήφου καταδικάσαντος. ᾿Αλλὰ καὶ Ἰωάννης ἀποθανὼν ζῇν ἐπιστεύετο· καὶ Βασιλείῳ παρ' αὐτῶν τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἡ τῆς ἐξορίας ἀναλύεται ψῆφος, οὐδὲν διὰ τῆς ἀπειλῆς μαλακισθέντι περὶ τὴν ἔνστασιν. ῾Αρα τολμήσαιμεν καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν ὑψηλὸν Ἠλίαν ἀναβῆναι τῷ λόγῳ, καὶ δεῖξαι τὸν καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς διδάσκαλον πρὸς τὴν ἐκείνου χάριν τῷ βίῳ τῷ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ὁμοιούμενον; Ἀλλὰ τὴν μὲν ἐπὶ τοῦ φλογίνου ἅρματος διφρείαν, καὶ τὴν τῶν πυρίνων ἡνιόχησιν ἵππων, καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὸ ὑπερκείμενον τῆς ἄνω λήξεως μεταχώρησιν, μηδεὶς ἀπαιτείτω τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος ἐν τοῖς ὅροις μένων τῆς φύσεως, ἀπαθὴς ἐν τῷ πυρὶ διεσώζετο, πρὸς τὸ ἀνωφερές τε καὶ κοῦφον θείᾳ δυνάμει μετασκευάζων τὸ ἐμβριθές τε καὶ γήϊνον, μήθ᾽ ὅτι τὸν ἑαυτοῦ λόγον οἷόν τινα κλεῖν ἐποιεῖτο τῆς ἐξ οὐρανοῦ χορηγίας, ἀνιείς τε ὅτε βούλοιτο, καὶ ἀποκλείων πάλιν κατ' ἐξουσίαν, ὅτε τοῦτο πράττειν ἄμεινον ᾤετο. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ εἰς πολὺν αὐτὸν διαρκέσαι χρόνον ἀπόσιτον, μιᾷ τροφῇ τοῦ ἐγκρυφίου ἐκείνου ὀλυρίτου ἐν ὁμοίῳ τὴν δύναμιν αὐτοῦ διασώζοντα μέχρις ἡμερῶν τεσσαράκοντα παρείσθω καὶ τοῦτο, ὡς μεῖζον ἢ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον. "Απορος γὰρ τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει τῶν ὑπὲρ φύσιν ἡ μίμησις. Σιγάσθω δὲ μετὰ τούτων ὅ τε βραχὺς ἐκεῖνος τοῦ ἀλεύρου κέραμος, καὶ ὁ τοῦ ἐλαίου καμψάκης· διαρκῶν ἑκάτερος πρὸς τὴν χρείαν ἐν τῇ τῆς τροφῆς χορηγίᾳ, καὶ παντὶ τοῦ λιμοῦ τῷ χρόνῳ συμπαρατείνων τὴν χάριν, εἰς ἔτη τρία καὶ μῆνας ἕξ. Τὰ γὰρ τῆς ἄνωθεν ἐνεργείας θαύματα, ἰδιάζουσαν ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων ἔχει τὴν δύναμιν. Καὶ οὐκ ἄν τις εὐλόγως ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει τὰς τοιαύτας θαυματοποιίας λογί ### English translation (Claude) boldly to Herod, and this man to Valens. Let us compare the ranks of these men with each other. The one had been allotted power over a part of Palestine by the vote of the Romans; the bounds of the other's rule were almost the whole course of the sun, stretching from the borders of Persia to the Britons and the farthest parts of the Ocean. The aim of the boldness toward Herod was that he should not act lawlessly concerning a woman, but should check his desire in himself as forbidden by the law. What was the teacher's boldness toward Valens? That he should leave the faith inviolate and undefiled, the violation of which was becoming a pollution for the whole world. Let the fair examiner of things, then, set power against power, and the aim of this boldness against that boldness. There the pollution was confined to Herod's body; here the violation of the faith was an injustice to the whole of human nature. John persisted in his boldness to death; for this man the end of his boldness was exile, the emperor condemning him to this instead of a death sentence. But John too was believed to be alive after he died; and for Basil the sentence of exile was annulled by his enemies themselves, though he had in no way softened his resistance under the threat. Shall we dare to go up in our speech to the lofty Elijah too, and show that our teacher was likened in his own life to that man's grace? But let no one demand of human nature the driving of the fiery chariot, the reining of the horses of fire, and the passage to the region above. For neither did Elijah remain within the limits of nature when he was preserved unharmed in the fire, changing by divine power what is heavy and earthly into what rises and is light; nor when he made his own word a kind of key to the supply from heaven, opening when he wished and shutting again at his will when he thought it better to do so. And his lasting a long time without food, the one meal of that barley cake baked in the ashes keeping his strength the same for up to forty days, let this too be passed over as more than human. For imitation of things beyond nature is impossible for human nature. With these let us also pass over in silence that small jar of meal and the flask of oil, each sufficient for the need in supplying food and extending the grace through all the time of the famine, for three years and six months. For the wonders of the working from above have their own power in the deeds; and one could not reasonably reckon such wonder-working to human nature. ### Scripture references - Mark 6:17–18: allusion, high confidence - Mark 6:14–16: allusion, medium confidence - 2 Kgs 2:11: allusion, high confidence - 1 Kgs 17:1: allusion, high confidence - 1 Kgs 19:6–8: allusion, high confidence - 1 Kgs 17:14–16: allusion, high confidence - Luke 4:25: allusion, medium confidence - Jas 5:17: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Allusions: Mark 6:17–18 (John and Herod; the woman is Herodias); Mark 6:14–16 (John believed risen); 2 Kgs 2:11 (Elijah's chariot); 1 Kgs 17:1 and 18:1 (the key of the rain); 1 Kgs 19:6–8 (the cake and forty days); 1 Kgs 17:14–16 (meal and oil); Luke 4:25 and Jas 5:17 (three years and six months). ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Bas. 803 (PG 46:803–804; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/803). ## Funeral Oration on Basil, Migne cols. 805–806 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/787/#p-805 - Source: PG 46:805–806 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: Basil shared Elijah's zeal, austerity, and dignity; his lifelong frugality answers Elijah's forty-day fast; his Trinitarian faith draws down the Spirit's fire; his prayer ended a drought, and in a famine he sold his goods. ### Greek text Τίνα οὖν ἐστιν ὅσα τοῦ διδασκάλου ἡμῶν πρὸς τὰ ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ θεωρούμενα τὴν κοινωνίαν ἔχει; Ζῆλος πίστεως, δυσμένεια κατὰ τῶν ἀθετούντων, ἀγάπη πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, ἐπιθυμία τοῦ ὄντος ὄντως πρὸς οὐδὲν τῶν ὑλικῶν ἀποῤῥέουσα, ζωὴ διὰ πάντων ἐξητασμένη, βίος κατεσκληκὼς, βλέμμα τῷ τόνῳ τῆς ψυχῆς συντεινόμενον, σεμνότης ἀνεπιτήδευτος· ἡσυχία λόγου ἐνεργεστέρα, φροντὶς περὶ τῶν ἐλπιζομένων, καταφρόνησις τῶν ὁρωμένων, ὁμοτιμία πρὸς πᾶν τὸ φαινόμενον, εἴτε τις τῶν ὑπερόγκων ἐν ἀξιώματι τύχοι, εἴτε τῶν ταπεινῶν τε καὶ ἀπεῤῥιμμένων προφαίνοιτο. Ταῦτά ἐστι καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα, ἐν οἷς μιμεῖται ὁ τοῦ διδασκάλου βίος τὰ τοῦ Ἠλίου θαύματα. Εἰ δὲ τις προφέρει τῶν τεσσαράκοντα ἡμερῶν τὴν ἀσιτίαν, καὶ ἡμεῖς τοῦ διδασκάλου τὴν διὰ παντὸς τοῦ βίου ὀλιγοσιτίαν ἀντιπροσοίσομεν. Γειτνιάζει γάρ πως τῷ ἀσίτῳ τὸ ὀλιγόσιτον, καὶ μάλιστα ὅταν τὸ μὲν ἐν ὀλίγῳ γένηται χρόνῳ, τὸ δὲ πρὸς πάντα διαρκέσῃ τὸν βίον. Ἄλλως τε κἀκεῖ μὲν ὁ ὀλυρίτης ἐκεῖνος ἐγκρυφίας διεκράτει τοῦ προφήτου τὸν τόνον, ἔχων τι πάντως ἐν ἑαυτῷ τοιοῦτον, ᾧ συνετηρεῖτο τοῦ προσενεγκαμένου τὴν τροφὴν ταύτην ἡ δύναμις. Τεκμήριον δὲ, ὅτι οὐχὶ τῶν ὁμοφύλων τις αὐτῷ σιτοποιήσας τὴν τροφὴν παρεθήκατο, ἀλλ᾽ ἀγγελικῆς παρασκευῆς ἐνεφορήθη. Ὅθεν αὐτῷ πλήρης τε καὶ ἀδιάπνευστος ἦν ἡ διὰ τῆς τροφῆς ἐκείνης ἐγγινομένη τῷ σώματι δύναμις. Ἐνταῦθα δὲ οὐδὲν καινοτομηθείσης τῆς συνηθείας, μέτρον τῆς τροφῆς ὁ λογισμὸς ἦν, τοσοῦτον παρέχων τῷ σώματι, οὐχ ὅσον ἡ φύσις ἐβούλετο, ἀλλ᾽ ὅσον ὁ τῆς ἐγκρατείας ἐνεκελεύετο νόμος. Ἡ δὲ ἱερωσύνη τοῦ διδασκάλου, μιμεῖται τὰ τῆς ἱερωσύνης τοῦ προφήτου αἰνίγματα, διὰ τοῦ τρισσεύειν ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῆς πίστεως, τὸ οὐράνιον πῦρ πρὸς τὰς ἱερουργίας ἐφελκομένη. Πῦρ δὲ τὴν τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος δύναμιν καλεῖσθαι πολλαχῆ παρὰ τῆς Γραφῆς ἐδιδάχθημεν. Αὐχμὸν δὲ γῆς ὁ διδάσκαλος οὔτε ἔλυσεν, οὔτε ἐπήγαγεν. Ἐκεῖ δὲ ὁ μέγας προφήτης, πλήξας τῇ μάστιγι τῆς ἀνομβρίας τὴν γῆν, ὁ αὐτὸς καὶ ἰατρὸς τοῦ τραύματος γίνεται, ἐφάμιλλον τῇ ἀλγηδόνι τῆς μάστιγος τὴν ἐκ τῆς θεραπείας ἄνεσιν αὐτοῖς χαριζόμενος. Εἰ δὲ χρή τι καὶ πρὸς τοῦτο τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς Ἠλίου θαῦμα εἰπεῖν θείᾳ βουλήσει τῆς τοιαύτης ποτὲ συμφορᾶς ἀπειληθείσης, καὶ ξηροῦ παντὸς τοῦ χειμερίου καιροῦ παραδραμόντος, καὶ μηδεμιᾶς καρπῶν ὑποφαινομένης ἐλπίδος τότε προσπεσὼν τῷ Θεῷ ὁ διδάσκαλος, μέχρι τῆς ἀπειλῆς τὸν φόβον ἔστησεν, λιταῖς τὸ θεῖον ἱλεωσάμενος, καὶ λύσας διὰ προσευχῶν τὴν τῆς ἀνομβρίας κατήφειαν. ᾿Αλλὰ καὶ τῆς τοῦ λιμοῦ παραμυθίας, ἣν ἐπὶ μιᾶς ἐνεδείξατο χήρας ὁ μέγας Ἠλίας, ἔχει τι καὶ ὁ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς βίος ἐπὶ τοῦ διδασκάλου ὁμοίωμα. Λιμοῦ γάρ ποτε χαλεποῦ καταπονοῦντος αὐτήν τε τὴν πόλιν ἐν ᾗ διαιτώμενος ἐτύγχανεν, καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν ὑποτελοῦσαν τῇ πόλει χώραν, τὰς ἑαυτοῦ κτήσεις ἀποδόμενος, καὶ ### English translation (Claude) What, then, in our teacher has a share in what is seen in the prophet? Zeal for the faith, hostility toward those who set it aside, love for God, a desire for what truly is that flows away toward nothing material, a life tested in everything, a hardened way of living, a gaze strained with the tension of the soul, unaffected dignity, a silence more effective than speech, care for the things hoped for, contempt for the things seen, equal regard for everything that appears, whether one of the very high in rank happened to be present or one of the humble and cast off appeared. These and such things are those in which the teacher's life imitates the wonders of Elijah. If anyone brings up the fast of forty days, we in turn will set against it the teacher's sparing diet through his whole life. For eating little is somehow neighbour to not eating, especially when the one happens in a short time and the other lasts through a whole life. Besides, in Elijah's case that barley cake baked in the ashes kept up the prophet's vigour, surely having something in itself by which the strength of the one who ate this food was preserved. The proof is that it was not one of his countrymen who baked the food and set it before him, but he was filled with an angelic provision. Hence the strength produced in his body by that food was full and could not be exhausted. But here, with no change in the usual course, reason was the measure of food, supplying to the body not as much as nature wanted but as much as the law of self-control commanded. The teacher's priesthood imitates the riddles of the prophet's priesthood, drawing down the heavenly fire on the sacred rites by a threefold confession in the word of faith. And we have been taught that the power of the Holy Spirit is often called fire by Scripture. The teacher neither ended nor brought on a drought of the land. But there the great prophet, having struck the land with the scourge of rainlessness, himself becomes the healer of the wound too, granting them by the healing a relief equal to the pain of the scourge. If one must tell a wonder of our Elijah in answer to this too: once, when such a calamity was threatened by the divine will, and the whole winter season had passed dry, and no hope of crops was appearing, then the teacher fell down before God and stopped the fear at the threat, propitiating the Divine with supplications and dissolving through prayers the gloom of the drought. And our own life has in the teacher something like the relief of famine that the great Elijah showed for one widow. For once, when a severe famine was afflicting the very city in which he was living and the whole country subject to the city, he sold his own possessions and ### Scripture references - 1 Kgs 19:5–8: allusion, high confidence - 1 Kgs 18:34–38: allusion, high confidence - 1 Kgs 18:41–45: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Kgs 17:8–16: allusion, high confidence - 2 Cor 4:18: echo, low confidence - Matt 3:11: echo, low confidence - Acts 2:3: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - “A threefold confession” (τρισσεύειν) alludes to Elijah's drenching the sacrifice three times (1 Kgs 18:34) and to the Trinitarian faith. - Allusions: 1 Kgs 19:5–8; 1 Kgs 18:34–38; 1 Kgs 18:41–45; 1 Kgs 17:8–16; 2 Cor 4:18 (things seen and unseen); the Spirit as fire (Matt 3:11; Acts 2:3). ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Bas. 805 (PG 46:805–806; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/805). ## Funeral Oration on Basil, Migne cols. 807–808 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/807/#p-807 - Source: PG 46:807–808 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: In the famine Basil fed all comers, Jewish children included; like Samuel he was born in answer to prayer and offered sacrifice against the enemies, here heresies; Gregory turns to Moses. ### Greek text εἰς τροφὰς διαμείψας τὰ χρήματα, ὅτε σπανιον ἦν· καὶ τοὺς σφόδρα παρεσκευασμένους τράπεζαν ἑαυτοῖς παραστήσασθαι, διήρκεσεν ἐκεῖνος ἐν παντὶ τῷ χρόνῳ τοῦ λιμοῦ τρέφων, τους τε πανταχόθεν συῤῥέοντας, καὶ τὴν νεολέαν παντὸς τοῦ δήμου τῆς πόλεως, ὡς καὶ τοῖς τῶν Ἰουδαίων παισὶν ἐκ τοῦ ἴσου προτιθέναι τῆς φιλανθρωπίας ταύτης τὴν μετουσίαν. Διαφέρει δὲ πάντως οὐδὲν, ἢ διὰ καμψάκου τὴν θείαν ἐντολὴν, ἢ διά τινος ἄλλης ἀφορμῆς ἐκπληρῶσαι. Ἡ γὰρ παραμυθία τῶν δεομένων οὐ ζητεῖ τὸ πόθεν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ γινόμενον βλέπει. Εἰ δὲ ἀνωφερὴς ὁ Ἠλίας ἐγένετο, θαυμαστὸν μὲν καὶ τοῦτο, καὶ ὑπὲρ λόγον τὸ θαῦμα. Πλὴν οὐκ ἀπόβλητον καὶ τὸ ἕτερον εἶδος τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ ἄνω φορᾶς, ὅταν τις διὰ τῆς ὑψηλῆς πολιτείας ἀπὸ γῆς εἰς οὐρανὸν ἀνοικίζηται, διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἄρμα τὰς ἀρετὰς ποιησάμενος. Ὅπερ δὴ κατωρθῶσθαι τῷ διδασκάλῳ πᾶς ὁ εὐγνωμόνως τὰ κατ᾿ αὐτὸν ἐξετάζων συνθήσεται. Ἆρα χρὴ καὶ τοῦ Σαμουήλ κατατολμῆσαι τῷ λόγῳ; Ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις πᾶσι τῶν πρωτείων τῷ προφήτῃ παραχωρήσαντες, πρὸς δύο τινὰ τῶν περὶ αὐτοῦ λεγομένων, καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸν διδάσκαλον ἡμῶν οἰκείως ἔχοντα δείξομεν· Θεόσδοτος ἀμφοτέρων ἡ γέννησις ἦν. Ὡς γὰρ ἐκεῖνον ἡ μήτηρ, οὕτω καὶ τοῦτον ἐξ αἰτήσεως θείας ὁ πατὴρ ἐτεκνώσατο. Καὶ ἀῤῥωστίᾳ ποτὲ συσχεθέντος ἐπιθανατίῳ ἔτι ἐν τῷ νέῳ τῆς ἡλικίας, εἶδεν ὁ πατὴρ ἐπιφανέντα αὐτῷ κατὰ τὴν ἐνύπνιον ὄψιν τὸν Κύριον, τὸν ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ τὸν παῖδα τῷ βασιλικῷ χαρισάμενον, κἀκεῖνα εἰπόντα πρὸς τοῦτον, ἃ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον εἶπεν ὁ Κύριος, ὅτι Πορεύου, ὁ υἱός σου ζῇ. Οὗ τὴν πίστιν καὶ αὐτὸς μιμησάμενος, τὸν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει καρπὸν ἐκομίσατο, τὴν τοῦ υἱοῦ σωτηρίαν ἐκ τῆς φιλανθρωπίας τοῦ Κυρίου δεξάμενος. Ἕν μὲν δὴ τοῦτο τοῖς θαύμασι τοῦ Σαμουὴλ ἀνατίθεμεν. Ἕτερον δὲ, ὅτι τὸ εἶδος τῆς ἱερουργίας τὸ αὐτὸ τοῖς δύο συνεσπουδάσθη. Εἰρηνικὰς προσήγαγον ἀμφότεροι τῷ Θεῷ τὰς θυσίας, ὑπὲρ τῆς τῶν πολεμίων ἀναιρέσεως ἱερουργοῦντες, ὁ μὲν ἐπὶ τῇ καταλύσει τῶν αἱρέσεων, ὁ δὲ κατὰ τῶν ἀλλοφύλων τοῦτο ποιῶν. Μωϋσῆς δὲ ὁ μέγας, κοινὸν πρόκειται πᾶσι τοῖς πρὸς ἀρετὴν ὁρῶσιν ὑπόδειγμα καὶ οὐκ ἄν τις πλημμελοίη, τοῦ ἰδίου βίου σκοπὸν τὴν ἀρετὴν τοῦ νομοθέτου ποιούμενος. Οὐκοῦν ἀνεπίφθονον πάντως εἴη δεῖξαι τὸν διδάσκαλον ἡμῶν, ἐν οἷς οἷός τε ἦν, τὸν νομοθέτην ἐπὶ τοῦ βίου μιμούμενον. Ἐν τίσι τοίνυν ἡ μίμησις ἦν; ῎Αρχουσά τις τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, εἰσποιησαμένη τὸν Μωϋσέα παιδεύει τὴν ἐγχώριον παίδευσιν, οὐκ ἀποστάντα τοῦ μητρώου μαζοῦ, ἕως ### English translation (Claude) exchanged the money for food at a time when it was scarce even for those well prepared to set a table for themselves; and he held out through the whole time of the famine, feeding both those who streamed in from everywhere and the youth of the whole populace of the city, so that he set before even the children of the Jews an equal share in this kindness. It makes no difference at all whether one fulfils the divine commandment through a flask or through some other means. For the relief of the needy does not ask “from where,” but looks to what is done. If Elijah was carried upward, this too is wonderful and the wonder beyond reason. Yet the other kind of being carried upward is not to be rejected either, when someone moves house from earth to heaven through a lofty way of life, having made the virtues a chariot through the Spirit. Everyone who examines his life fairly will agree that the teacher achieved this. Must we also venture on Samuel in our speech? We yield to the prophet the first place in all other things, but in two of the things told of him we will show that what concerns our teacher is akin. The birth of both was a gift of God. For as his mother bore him, so his father begot this man by asking God. And once, when he was seized by a deadly illness while still young in age, his father saw appear to him in a dream the Lord, the one who in the Gospel granted the official his son, and saying to him what the Lord said to that man: “Go, your son lives.” Imitating that man's faith, he gained the same fruit of faith, receiving the salvation of his son from the Lord's kindness. This one thing, then, we set beside the wonders of Samuel. The other is that the same form of sacrifice was pursued by both. Both offered peace offerings to God, sacrificing for the destruction of enemies, the one doing this for the overthrow of heresies, the other against the foreigners. As for the great Moses, he is set before all who look to virtue as a common example, and no one would go wrong in making the lawgiver's virtue the aim of his own life. So it would surely be blameless to show our teacher imitating the lawgiver in his life in what he was able to. In what, then, was the imitation? A ruling woman of the Egyptians adopted Moses and taught him the native learning, though he did not leave his mother's breast as long as ### Scripture references - 1 Kgs 17:14: allusion, medium confidence - 2 Kgs 2:11: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Sam 1:11–20: allusion, high confidence - John 4:50: quotation, high confidence - 1 Sam 7:9–10: allusion, high confidence - Exod 2:5–10: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - A displaced OCR line (“νέῳ τῆς ἡλικίας, εἶδεν ὁ πατὴρ ἐπιφανέντα αὐτῷ”) stood inside the sentence about Elijah; it is restored to the Samuel passage, where the sense requires it, by logged corrections. - Allusions: 1 Kgs 17:14 (the flask); 2 Kgs 2:11; 1 Sam 1:11–20 (Samuel's birth); John 4:46–53 (the official's son; “Go, your son lives,” John 4:50); 1 Sam 7:9–10 (Samuel's sacrifice against the Philistines); Exod 2:5–10 (Moses adopted, nursed by his mother). ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Bas. 807 (PG 46:807–808; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/807). ## Funeral Oration on Basil, Migne cols. 809–810 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/807/#p-809 - Source: PG 46:809–810 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: Basil imitated Moses: nourished by the church while learning pagan wisdom, he left worldly glory, killed the “Egyptian” of the passions, withdrew to solitude, saw a divine light, and led his people through baptism and teaching and built a house for the poor. ### Greek text ἔδει τὴν πρώτην ἡλικίαν τῇ τοιαύτῃ τροφῇ τιθηνήσασθαι. Τοῦτο καὶ τῷ διδασκάλῳ μαρτυρεῖ ἡ ἀλήθεια. ᾿Ανατρεφόμενος γὰρ ὑπὸ τῆς ἔξω σοφίας, ἀεὶ τοῦ μαζοῦ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας εἴχετο, τοῖς ἐντεῦθεν διδάγμασι τὴν ψυχὴν αὔξων καὶ ἀδρυνόμενος. Ἠρνήσατο μετὰ ταῦτα ὁ Μωϋσῆς τῆς ψευδωνύμου μητρὸς τὴν σεσοφισμένην συγγένειαν. Οὐδὲ οὗτος παρέμεινεν ἐπιπολὺ νομίζεσθαι τοῦτο ᾧ ἐπῃσχύνετο. Πᾶσαν γὰρ τὴν ἐκ τῶν ἔξωθεν λόγων δόξαν ἀποσεισάμενος, ὥσπερ τὴν βασιλείαν ἐκεῖνος, πρὸς τὸν ταπεινὸν ἀπηυτομόλησε βίον, καθάπερ καὶ τοὺς Ἑβραίους ὁ Μωϋσῆς προτιμοτέρους τῶν Αἰγυπτίων θησαυρῶν ἐποιήσατο. Τῆς δὲ φύσεως ἐφ᾽ ἑκάστου τὸ ἑαυτῆς ἐνεργούσης (ἑκάστου γὰρ ἡ σάρξ ἐπιθυμεῖ κατὰ τοῦ πνεύματος), οὐδὲ οὗτος ἐκτὸς ἦν τῆς τοῦ Αἰγυπτίου λογισμοῦ μάχης, ἣν ἐπῆγε τῷ καθαρεύοντι ἀλλὰ συμμαχῶν τῷ βελτίονι, νεκρὸν ἐποίει τὸν κακῶς τῷ Ἑβραίῳ ἐπεγειρόμενον. Ἑβραῖος δὲ λογισμὸς, ὁ ἐκκεκαθαρμένος καὶ ἀμόλυντος. Ὁ γὰρ διὰ τοῦ νεκρῶσαι τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς μέλη τῇ ψυχῇ συμμαχῶν μιμεῖται τοῦ Μωϋσέως τὴν ἀριστείαν, ἣν κατὰ τοῦ Αἰγυπτίου ἐνήργησεν. Παραδραμεῖν δὲ προσήκει τὰ πολλὰ τῆς ἱστορίας, ὡς ἂν μὴ πολὺν ὄχλον ἐπάγοι τῇ ἀκοῇ, τὸ πάντα δι' ἀκριβείας θέλειν ἐκτίθεσθαι, ὅσα τε ἐπὶ Μωϋσέως ὁ λόγος κατέχει, καὶ ἐν οἷς ἐγένετο τοῦ διδασκάλου ἡ πρὸς τὸν νομοθέτην ὁμοίωσις. Κατέλιπε τὴν Αἴγυπτον μετὰ τὸν θάνατον τοῦ Αἰγυπτίου ὁ Μωσῆς, καὶ πολὺν ἐν τῷ μέσῳ διῆγεν χρόνον ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ ἰδιάζων. Κατέλιπε καὶ οὗτος τοὺς ἐν ἄστει θορύβους, καὶ τὰς ὑλικὰς ταύτας περιηχήσεις, καὶ ἦν ἐπὶ τῆς ἐσχατιᾶς προσφιλοσοφῶν τῷ Θεῷ. Κατελάμφθη τῷ φωτὶ διὰ τῆς βάτου ἐκεῖνος. Ἔχομέν τι συγγενὲς τῆς ὀπτασίας ταύτης καὶ ἐπὶ τούτου εἰπεῖν ὅτι νυκτὸς οὔσης, γίνεται αὐτῷ φωτὸς ἔλλαμψις κατὰ τὸν οἶκον προσευχομένῳ ἄϋλον δέ τι τὸ φῶς ἦν ἐκεῖνο, θείᾳ δυνάμει καταφωτίζον τὸ οἴκημα, ὑπ᾿ οὐδενὸς πράγματος ὑλικοῦ ἐξαπτόμενον. Σώζει τὸν λαὸν ὁ Μωσῆς ἐκ τοῦ τυράννου ῥυσάμενος. Μαρτυρεῖ τὰ ἴσα τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς νομοθέτου ὁ λαὸς οὗτος, οὗ διὰ τῆς ἱερωσύνης πρὸς τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ καθηγήσατο. Καὶ τί χρὴ τὰ καθ᾿ ἕκαστον λέγειν, ὅσους διήγαγε καὶ οὗτος διὰ τοῦ ὕδατος, ὅσοις διὰ τοῦ λόγου τὸν στύλον τοῦ πυρὸς ἐδᾳδούχησεν, ὅσους τῇ τοῦ Πνεύματος νεφέλῃ διέσωσεν, ὅσους ἔθρεψε τῇ οὐρανίᾳ τροφῇ, ὅπως ἐμιμεῖτο τὴν πέτραν ἡ ποτε τῷ ξύλῳ ἀνεστομώθη τὸ ὕδωρ, τουτέστιν, ᾗ ποτε ὁ τοῦ σταυροῦ τύπος τοῦ στόματος ἔθιγεν, ὅπως ἐπότιζε τοὺς διψῶντας τοῦ ὕδατος ἐκείνου, τῷ πλήθει τῆς ἐπιῤῥοῆς τὰς ἀβύσσους μιμούμενος, οἷαν μαρτυρίου σκηνὴν, καὶ σωματικῶς μὲν ἐν τῷ προαστείῳ κατεσκευάσατο, τοὺς πτωχοὺς τῷ σώματι, πτωχοὺς τῷ πνεύματι διὰ τῆς ἀγαθῆς διδασκαλίας εἶναι ποιήσας, ὥστε αὐτοῖς γενέσθαι μακαριστὴν τὴν πτωχείαν τῆς ἀληθινῆς βασιλείας προξενοῦσαν τὴν χάριν; Σκηνὴν δὲ ἀληθῆ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ κατοίκησιν τὴν ἑκάστου ### English translation (Claude) his early age had to be nursed with such food. The truth testifies this of the teacher too. For while he was brought up by outside wisdom, he always held to the breast of the church, growing and maturing his soul by its teachings. Afterwards Moses renounced the artificial kinship of his so-called mother. Nor did this man long remain thought to be what he was ashamed of. For shaking off all the glory that comes from outside learning, as Moses did the kingdom, he deserted to the humble life, just as Moses preferred the Hebrews to the treasures of the Egyptians. Since nature does its own work in each (for in each the flesh desires against the spirit), neither was this man outside the struggle of the Egyptian thought, which it brought against the pure one; but, fighting on the side of the better, he killed the one who wickedly rose against the Hebrew. And the Hebrew thought is the one cleansed and undefiled. For whoever fights on the side of the soul by putting to death the members on earth imitates Moses' valour, which he showed against the Egyptian. But it is fitting to pass over most of the history, so as not to bring a great crowd of words on the hearing by wishing to set out exactly everything the account holds about Moses and in which the teacher's likeness to the lawgiver came about. Moses left Egypt after the death of the Egyptian and spent a long time in between living by himself. This man too left the noise of the city and these material clamours, and was in a remote place, practising philosophy before God. Moses was shone upon by the light through the bush. We can tell of something akin to this vision in his case too: that at night, while he was praying in the house, a shining of light came upon him; that light was something immaterial, lighting up the room by divine power, kindled by no material thing. Moses saves the people, rescuing them from the tyrant. This people, whom he led through the priesthood to the promise of God, testifies the same of our lawgiver. And why must one tell each thing: how many he too led through the water, for how many he carried the pillar of fire as a torch by his word, how many he kept safe by the cloud of the Spirit, how many he fed with the heavenly food; how he imitated the rock whose water was once opened by the wood, that is, which the sign of the cross once touched at its mouth; how he gave drink to those who thirsted for that water, imitating the depths by the abundance of its flow; what a tabernacle of witness he built bodily in the suburb, making the poor in body poor in spirit through good teaching, so that their poverty became blessed, procuring for them the grace of the true kingdom? And a true tabernacle for the dwelling of God he made of each one's ### Scripture references - Heb 11:24–26: allusion, high confidence - Gal 5:17: quotation, high confidence - Exod 2:11–15: allusion, high confidence - Col 3:5: allusion, high confidence - Exod 3:2: allusion, high confidence - Exod 13:21: allusion, medium confidence - Exod 16:4: allusion, medium confidence - Exod 17:6: allusion, medium confidence - Exod 15:25: allusion, low confidence - Matt 5:3: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - “The water” is baptism; the “tabernacle of witness … in the suburb” is Basil's hospital and poorhouse outside Caesarea (the Basileias). Gregory reads the Egyptian killed by Moses as the passions of the flesh. - Allusions: Heb 11:24–26; Gal 5:17; Exod 2:11–15; Col 3:5; Exod 3:2; Exod 14; Exod 13:21; Exod 16; Exod 17:6 and Num 20:11 (the rock); Exod 15:25 (the wood); Matt 5:3. - Two OCR slips are corrected: “λογισμοῦ χης” read as “λογισμοῦ μάχης” (“the struggle of the thought”), and “ἐπιρμθῆς” as “ἐπιῤῥοῆς” (“flow”). ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Bas. 809 (PG 46:809–810; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/809). ## Funeral Oration on Basil, Migne cols. 811–812 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/807/#p-811 - Source: PG 46:811–812 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: Basil built in souls the furnishings of Moses' tabernacle, entered the divine darkness, defeated “Amalekites” by prayer and undid sorcerers like Balaam; like Moses he left no memorial of the flesh. ### Greek text ψυχὴν ἐδημιούργει τῷ λόγῳ, καὶ στύλους τινὰς ἐν αὐτῇ κατασκευάζων· λογισμοὺς λέγω τοὺς στύλους τοὺς τὸ ἐπίπονον τῆς ἀρετῆς ὑπερείδοντας καὶ λουτῆρας ὡσαύτως πρὸς τὸ ἐκπλύνειν τῆς ψυχῆς τὰ μιάσματα, τῷ ἐκ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ὕδατι τὸν μολυσμὸν ἀποκλύζοντας. Ὅσας λυχνίας ἐνετίθει τῇ ἑκάστου ψυχῇ, καταφωτίζων τῷ λόγῳ τὰ κρύφια! Οἷα τὰ τῶν προσευχῶν θυμιατήριά τε καὶ θυσιαστήρια κατεσκεύασεν, ἐκ καθαροῦ καὶ ἀδόλου χρυσίου, τουτέστιν ἐξ ἀληθινῆς τε καὶ καθαρᾶς διαθέσεως, οὗ μηδὲν ὁ βαρὺς τῆς κενοδοξίας μόλυβδος τὴν λαμπηδόνα τῶν γινομένων ἡμαύρωσεν! Τί δεῖ λέγειν τὴν μυστικὴν κιβωτὸν, οἴαν ἑκάστῳ ἐτεκτήνατο, τὰς πλάκας τῆς διαθήκης, τὰς τῷ θείῳ δακτύλῳ ἐγγεγραμμένας ἐντιθεὶς τῇ ψυχῇ; Λέγω δὲ ταῦτα πρὸς ἐκεῖνο βλέπων, ὅτι τὴν ἑκάστου καρδίαν ἐποίει κιβωτὸν, περιεκτικὴν τῶν πνευματικῶν μυστηρίων, γραπτὸν ἔχουσαν τὸν νόμον διὰ τῶν ἔργων καταγραφόμενον τῇ ἐνεργείᾳ τοῦ Πνεύματος (οὕτω γὰρ ὁ δάκτυλος τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐρμηνεύεται)· ἐν ᾗ καὶ τῆς ἱερωσύνης ἡ ῥάβδος ἀεὶ τὸν ἴδιον καρπὸν ἐξήνθει, διὰ τῆς μετουσίας τῶν ἀγιασμάτων ἀναβλαστάνουσα· καὶ ἡ στάμνος οὐκ ἐκενοῦτο τοῦ μάννα. Τότε γὰρ κενὸν γίνεται τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ ἀγγεῖον τῆς οὐρανίας τροφῆς, ὅταν ἁμαρτία παρεμπεσοῦσα τὴν ἐπιῤῥοὴν τοῦ μάννα κωλύσῃ. Μάννα δέ ἐστιν ἄρτος οὐράνιος. Τί χρὴ λέγειν ὅπως δι᾿ ἀκριβείας τὴν ἱερατικὴν στολὴν αὐτός τε περιετίθετο, καὶ κατεκόσμει τοὺς ἄλλους τῷ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ὑποδείγματι, ἀεὶ φέρων τὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ στήθους κόσμον, ᾧ ὄνομα λογεῖόν τε καὶ δήλωσις, καὶ ἀλήθεια; πάντα παρίημι τοῖς φιλοπονωτέροις κατὰ τὴν τροπικὴν σημασίαν ἐφαρμόζειν τῷ διδασκάλῳ· δι᾽ ὧν αὐτός τε τοιοῦτος ἦν, καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐκοινώνει τοῦ κόσμου. Πολλάκις ἔγνωμεν αὐτὸν καὶ ἐντὸς τοῦ γνόφου γενόμενον, οὗ ἦν ὁ Θεός. Τὸ γὰρ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀθεώρητον, ἐκείνῳ ληπτὸν ἐποίει ἡ μυσταγωγία τοῦ Πνεύματος, ὡς δοκεῖν ἐντὸς τῆς περιοχῆς εἶναι τοῦ γνόφου, ᾧ ὁ περὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγος ἐναποκρύπτεται. Πολλάκις ἀντέστησεν ἑαυτὸν τοῖς Αμαληκίταις, ὅπλῳ χρησάμενος τῇ προσευχῇ. Οὗ τὰς χεῖρας ἐπαίροντος, ὁ ἀληθινὸς Ἰησοῦς κατηγωνίζετο τῶν πολεμίων. Πολλῶν κατὰ τὸν Βαλαὰμ ἐκεῖνον γοήτων τὰς μαγγανείας διέλυσεν· οἳ οὐχὶ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ λόγου ἀκούοντες, ἀλλὰ τῇ ὀνώδει διδασκαλίᾳ τῶν δαιμόνων πειθόμενοι, ἀνενέργητον εἶχον εἰς κακίαν τὸ στόμα, τῆς τοῦ διδασκάλου εὐχῆς εἰς εὐλογίαν τὴν κατάραν μετατιθείσης. Ταῦτα δὲ παρ' ἡμῶν λέγεται δι' ἐπιδρομῆς τε καὶ συντομίας ἐφαρμόσει δὲ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ τῶν γεγονότων τὰ καθ᾿ ἕκαστον ὁ μὴ ἀγνοῶν τοῦ Ἁγίου τὸν βίον, ὅσοι διὰ φαρμακείας τε καὶ γοητείας ἐπιβουλὰς κατά τινων συσκευάσαντες, ἄπρακτον ἔσχον τὴν πονηρίαν, μὴ συγχωρηθέντες ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ διδασκάλου πίστεως προαγαγεῖν τὸ κακὸν εἰς τελείωσιν. Ἀλλὰ πάντα τὰ διὰ μέσου καταλιπών, τοῦ τέλους ἀμφοτέρων ἐπιμνησθήσομαι· ᾿Αφῆκε μὲν τὸν βίον ἑκάτερος μνημόσυνον δὲ τῆς ἰδίας περὶ τὴν σάρκα σχέσεως, οὐ- ### English translation (Claude) soul by his word, and he built pillars in it: by pillars I mean reasonings that support the toil of virtue; and likewise lavers to wash away the soul's defilements, rinsing off the pollution with water from the eyes. How many lampstands he set in each one's soul, lighting up hidden things by the word! What censers and altars of prayers he made, of pure and unalloyed gold, that is, of a true and pure disposition, whose brightness the heavy lead of vainglory never dulled! Why should I speak of the mystical ark, such as he fashioned for each, placing in the soul the tablets of the covenant written by the divine finger? I say this looking to the fact that he made each one's heart an ark holding the spiritual mysteries, having the law written in it, inscribed through works by the working of the Spirit (for this is how the finger of God is interpreted); in which also the rod of the priesthood always blossomed with its own fruit, sprouting through participation in the holy things; and the jar was never emptied of manna. For the vessel of the soul becomes empty of heavenly food when sin falls in and stops the flow of manna. And manna is the bread of heaven. Why should I say how exactly he both put on the priestly robe himself and adorned others by his example, always wearing the ornament on the breast called the oracle, and manifestation, and truth? All these I leave to the more diligent to apply to the teacher in their figurative sense, by which he both was such himself and shared the adornment with others. We have known him often to enter the darkness where God was. For what was beyond sight for others, the Spirit's initiation made graspable for him, so that he seemed to be within the enclosure of the darkness in which the doctrine of God is hidden. Often he set himself against the Amalekites, using prayer as his weapon; and while he raised his hands, the true Jesus overcame the enemies. He undid the sorceries of many magicians like that Balaam, who, not listening to the true word but obeying the asinine teaching of the demons, had mouths powerless for evil, since the teacher's prayer turned the curse into blessing. We say these things in passing and briefly; whoever knows the saint's life will fit each one to the truth of what happened: how many, having contrived plots against others by poisoning and sorcery, found their wickedness ineffective, not being allowed by the teacher's faith to carry the evil through to completion. But leaving out everything in between, I will mention the end of both. Each left life, but neither left behind in life a memorial of his own attachment to the flesh. ### Scripture references - Exod 25:1–31:18: allusion, low confidence - Exod 31:18: allusion, high confidence - Luke 11:20: allusion, medium confidence - Num 17:8: allusion, high confidence - Heb 9:4: allusion, high confidence - John 6:31: allusion, medium confidence - Exod 28:30: allusion, high confidence - Exod 20:21: allusion, high confidence - Exod 17:11: allusion, high confidence - Num 22:28: allusion, medium confidence - Deut 23:5: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Gregory reads the tabernacle and its furnishings as figures of the soul's virtues (Exod 25–31); the breastplate “oracle, manifestation, and truth” is the LXX rendering of Urim and Thummim (Exod 28:30). - Allusions: Exod 31:18 and Luke 11:20 (finger of God); Num 17:8 and Heb 9:4 (Aaron's rod and the jar of manna); John 6:31–33 (bread of heaven); Exod 20:21 (the darkness); Exod 17:8–13 (Amalek; “Jesus” is Joshua, Ἰησοῦς in Greek, read as Christ); Num 22–24 (Balaam; Deut 23:5, curse turned to blessing). ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Bas. 811 (PG 46:811–812; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/811). ## Funeral Oration on Basil, Migne cols. 813–814 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/807/#p-813 - Source: PG 46:813–814 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: Like Moses, Basil left no tomb of wealth; Gregory declines a conventional encomium of his family and homeland, since Basil despised the flesh and rose above the whole world. ### Greek text θέτερος αὐτῶν τῷ βίῳ κατέλιπεν. Οὔτε γὰρ Μωϋσέως τάφος εὑρίσκεται, οὔτε οὗτος περιουσίᾳ τινὶ ὑλικῇ ὑπεχώσθη ἀλλ᾽ ὁμοῦ τε παρῆλθε τὸν βίον, καὶ συμπαρῆλθεν αὐτῷ πάντα, δι' ὧν ὁ βίος τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἔχει τὴν σύστασιν, ὡς μηδὲν εὑρεθῆναι τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ὑλικὸν μνημεῖον ἐκ τῆς τῶν ὑπολειφθέντων περιουσίας καταχωννύον αὐτοῦ τὴν πρὸς τὸ κρείττον ὑπόληψιν. Ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ Μωσέως ἡ ἱστορία λέγουσα τοῦτο, ὅτι οὐχ εὑρέθη αὐτοῦ τάφος ἕως τῆς σήμερον ἡμέρας. Εἰ οὖν τοιοῦτος ἀπὸ τοῦ λόγου ἡμῖν ἀναδέδεικται ὁ Μέγας Βασίλειος, ὥστε μὴ πόῤῥω τῶν ἁγίων εἶναι αὐτὸν διὰ τοῦ βίου πρὸς ἕκαστον τῶν μεγάλων παρατιθέμενον, καλῶς ἡμῖν ἡ ἀκολουθία τῶν ἑορτῶν ἐπὶ τοῦτον ἄγει νῦν τὴν ἐνεστῶσαν πανἡγυριν. Ἀλλὰ μὴν διὰ τῶν κεχαρισμένων ἐκείνῳ προσαγαγεῖν πρέπον ἂν εἴη τὴν μνήμην. Οὐκοῦν σκεπτέον ὅπως διαθέντες τὴν ἑορτὴν, κεχαρισμένως τῷ ἁγίῳ πανηγυρίσομεν. ῾Αρὰ τις ἐπιζητήσει τὸν ἐπιδεικτικὸν ἐπ' αὐτοῦ καὶ κομπώδη τῶν ἐγκωμίων τρόπον Πατρίδα καὶ γένος, καὶ τὴν ἐκ γονέων άνατροφὴν, καὶ τὰ καθ᾿ ἕκαστον τοῦ βίου ἐπιτηδεύματα, οἷς συνηυξήθη τε καὶ συνήκμασε, καὶ δι᾽ ὧν τὸ περιφανές τε καὶ περίβλεπτον ἔσχεν ἐν ἀνδράσι γεγονώς. ᾿Αλλὰ παρωθεῖται πᾶσαν τὴν κομπώδη ταύτην ὑψηγορίαν τὸ μέγεθος τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν θεωρουμένων καλῶν, ὅτι πρὸς τουναντίον ἐκβαίνει τὸ σπουδαζόμενον, τῷ μὴ εἶναι δύναμιν ἐν λόγοις τοιαύτην, ἥτις τοῦ μεγέθους τῶν θαυμάτων πρὸς ἀξίαν ἐφἀψεται. Ὡς ἂν οὖν μὴ τῇ μικροφυΐᾳ τοῦ λόγου συγκαθαιρεθείη τὸ θαῦμα, καὶ τῆς ἐν ἑκάστῳ νῦν περὶ αὐτοῦ δόξης γένοιτό τις διὰ τῶν ἐπαινεῖν ἐπιχειρούντων ἐλάττωσις, κρεῖττον ἂν εἴη τῇ σιωπῇ μᾶλλον αὔξειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς τὸ θαῦμα, ἢ διὰ τοῦ λόγου κατασμικρύνειν τὸν ἔπαινον. Τί γὰρ ἄν τις τοιοῦτὸν εἰπὼν, σεμνότερον αὐτὸν ἀπεργάσαιτο Αρα δέξαιτο ἂν ἐκεῖνος τὴν διὰ σαρκός τε καὶ αἵματος λεγομένην εὐγένειαν; Καὶ τίς οὐκ οἶδεν τοῦ μεγάλου τὴν περὶ τὴν σάρκα διάθεσιν, ὡς ἐναντίως πρὸς αὐτὴν εἶχεν, καθάπερ ἀνδράποδόν τι δραπετικὸν ἀεὶ τοῖς ἐκ τῶν λογισμῶν δεσμοῖς περιβάλλων, καὶ διὰ τῆς ἀκροτάτης κακοπαθείας τε καὶ ἐγκρατείας, μαστίζων τε καὶ στρεβλῶν τὸν μαστιγίαν ἐκεῖνον δοῦλον τὸ σῶμα, οἷόν τις ἀπαραίτητος δεσπότης, οὐδεμίαν ἄνεσιν ἐνδιδοὺς τῷ δεσμώτῃ; Τὸν οὖν οὕτως ἔχοντα περὶ τὴν σάρκα, διὰ τῆς σωματικῆς εὐεργεσίας ἀποσεμνύνειν, τῶν ἀλογωτάτων ἂν εἴη. Πῶς γὰρ ὑπὸ τούτου νῦν τιμηθήσεται, ᾧ παρὰ τὴν ζωὴν ἐπῃσχύνετο; Ομοίως δὲ καὶ τῆς πατρίδος ἡ μνήμη, τῷ περὶ τοῦ γένους συνεκβάλλεται λόγῳ. Ὁ γὰρ παντὸς ὑπερθεὶς ἑαυτὸν τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ οἷον στενοχωρούμενος ἐν πάσῃ τῇ αἰσθητῇ τῶν στοιχείων φύσει, ὡς μηδὲ τὸν οὐρανὸν φέρειν ἑαυτοῦ ὑπερκείμενον· ἀλλ᾽ εἰς τὸ ἐπέκεινα ἴεσθαι τῇ ψυχῇ, καὶ ὑπερκύπτοντα τὴν αἰσθητὴν τοῦ κόσμου περιοχὴν ἀεὶ τοῖς νοητοῖς ἐμβατεύειν, καὶ συμμετεωροπορεῖν ταῖς θείαις δυνάμεσι, μηδὲν τῷ σωματικῷ ἐφολκίῳ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ νοῦ πορείαν ἐμποδιζόμενος πότε ἂν δέξαιτο μέρει τινὶ τῆς γῆς ἑαυτὸν ### English translation (Claude) For neither is Moses' tomb found, nor was this man buried under any material wealth; but as soon as he passed through life, everything by which human life is sustained passed along with him, so that no material monument of the man was found from the wealth of what he left behind, burying the better estimate of him. Just as the history says this of Moses, that his tomb has not been found to this day. If, then, the great Basil has been shown by our speech to be such that he is not far from the saints when set beside each of the great ones in his life, the sequence of the feasts rightly brings the present festival to him now. But it would be fitting to bring his memory forward through what was pleasing to him. So we must consider how to arrange the feast so as to celebrate it in a way pleasing to the saint. Will anyone look in his case for the showy and boastful manner of encomia: native land and family and upbringing by his parents and each of the pursuits of his life, with which he grew and came to his prime, and through which he became distinguished and admired among men? But the greatness of the good things seen in him pushes aside all this boastful grandiloquence, because what is attempted turns out the opposite, since there is no such power in words as could worthily reach the greatness of his wonders. So, lest the wonder be pulled down by the meanness of the speech, and the glory of him now in each person's mind be lessened through those who try to praise him, it would be better to increase the wonder in ourselves by silence than to diminish the praise through speech. For what could anyone say that would make him more dignified? Would he accept the so-called noble birth through flesh and blood? Who does not know the great man's disposition toward the flesh, how he was opposed to it, always throwing it, like a runaway slave, in the bonds of reasoning, and through the utmost hardship and self-control lashing and racking that slave deserving the whip, the body, like an inexorable master, giving the prisoner no relief? To try to dignify one so disposed toward the flesh by a bodily benefit would be most unreasonable. For how will he now be honoured by what he was ashamed of in life? Likewise the mention of his native land is thrown out along with the account of his family. For one who set himself above the whole world, and was as it were cramped in the whole perceptible nature of the elements, so as not to bear even the heaven lying above him, but went out in his soul to what is beyond, and, peering over the perceptible enclosure of the world, always entered on intelligible things and travelled aloft with the divine powers, in no way hindered in the mind's journey by the burden of the body, when would he accept to name himself ### Scripture references - Deut 34:6: quotation, high confidence - Gal 1:16: echo, low confidence - 1 Cor 9:27: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Allusions: Deut 34:6 (Moses' unknown tomb); Gal 1:16 (flesh and blood); 1 Cor 9:27 (disciplining the body). ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Bas. 813 (PG 46:813–814; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/813). ## Funeral Oration on Basil, Migne cols. 815–816 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/807/#p-815 - Source: PG 46:815–816 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: Basil's true family is kinship with God and his homeland is virtue; since words cannot praise him fittingly, the best praise is to make our own lives better by remembering him. ### Greek text ἐπονομάζειν, καὶ διὰ τῆς τοῦ τόπου εὐφυΐας ἑαυτῷ τοὺς ἐπαίνους συνερανίζεσθαι; Ὕβρις γὰρ ἂν εἴη καὶ τῶν ἀληθινῶν ἐπαίνων ἐλάττωσις, εἰ τῆς ἀρετῆς προκειμένης τῇ θεωρίᾳ, ὕδωρ, καὶ φύλλα, καὶ βῶλος, καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα θαυμάζοιτο. ῎Αλλως τε πᾶν ὁ μὴ προαιρέσεως γίνεται κτῆμα, κἂν ὅτι μάλιστα καλὸν ᾖ, οὐδεμίαν εὐφημίαν ἐκείνῳ φέρει, ᾧ κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ συνηνέχθη. Οὐκοῦν σιωπάσθω πατρὶς καὶ γένος, καὶ πᾶν τὸ τοιοῦτον, ὃ τῇ αὐτομάτῳ συντυχίᾳ τοῖς ἐπιτυχοῦσι συμφέρεται. Ἐκείνης δ' ἄν τις εἰκότως ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῦ μνησθείη πατρίδος τε καὶ εὐγενείας, ἢ διὰ προαιρέσεως τοῖς ἐσπουδακόσι προσγίνεται. Τις οὖν ἡ Βασιλείου εὐγένεια; Καὶ τίς ἡ πατρίς; Γένος μὲν αὐτῷ ἡ πρὸς τὸ Θεῖον οἰκείωσις· πατρὶς δὲ, ἡ ἀρετή. Ὁ γὰρ τὸν Θεὸν δεξάμενος, καθώς φησι τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον, ἐξουσίαν ἔχει τέκνον Θεοῦ γενέσθαι. Τί δὲ τῆς πρὸς Θεὸν συγγενείας εὐγενέστερον ἄν τις ἐπιζητήσειεν; Ὁ δὲ ἐν τῇ ἀρετῇ ὢν, καὶ ταύτην γεωργῶν, καὶ ἐκ ταύτης προσοδευόμενος, πατρίδα πάντως ἑαυτοῦ ποιεῖται τοῦτο ᾧ ἐμβιοτεύει. Σωφροσύνη ἦν αὐτῷ τὸ ἐφέστιον, σοφία τὸ κτῆμα δικαιοσύνη δὲ καὶ ἀλήθεια καὶ καθαρότης, τὰ λαμπρὰ καὶ περίβλεπτα τῶν οἰκοδομημάτων κάλλη· οἷς ἐνδιαιτώμενος ἐπηγάλλετο πλέον, ἢ ὅσον οἱ τοῖς μαρμαρίνοις τε καὶ χρυσοπάστοις οἴκοις ἐναβρυνόμενοι. Εἴ τις ἀπὸ τοιαύτης αὐτὸν ἐγκωμιάζοι πατρίδος, καὶ ἀπὸ τοιούτου σεμνύνοι γένους, ἀληθῆ τε λέξει, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν κεχαρισμένων αὐτῷ τοὺς ἐπαίνους ποιήσεται· γῆν δὲ, καὶ αἷμα, καὶ σάρκα, καὶ πλοῦτον, καὶ δυναστείας, καὶ τὰς ἐν τούτοις περιφανείας προσμαρτυρείτωσαν οἱ βουλόμενοι τοῖς τοῦ κόσμου φίλοις. Εἰ οὖν ἀχώρητον τῷ ἡμετέρῳ λόγῳ τὸ ἁρμόζον ἐκείνῳ ἐγκώμιον, παραιτητέον ἂν εἴη τὰς τοιαύτας σπουδὰς, καὶ παραγράφεσθαι τῶν ἐγκωμίων τὰς τέχνας. Πῶς οὖν τὴν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ μνήμην ἀγάγωμεν, ἴσως ἐρεῖ τις, εἰ μὴ μετ' ἐγκωμίων τοῦτο ποιήσομεν; Πῶς ὁ νόμος τῆς Γραφῆς πληρωθήσεται, ὅς φησι, τὴν μνήμην τῶν δικαίων μετ' ἐγκωμίων δεῖ γενέσθαι, εἰ τὸν μὲν διὰ τῶν ἀληθῶν ἐπαίνων τὸν λόγον προσάγειν ἐστὶν ἀμήχανον, τὸ ὡς διὰ τῶν κοινοτέρων ἐφύβριστον; ᾿Αλλ' ἔστιν ἴσως οὐκ ἀπορῆσαί τινος ἐπινοίας, ὡς μὴ πάντη τῶν ἡμετέρων αὐτὸν ἐπαίνων καταλειφθῆναι ἀγέραστον. Τίς οὖν ἐστιν ἡ ἐπίνοια; Τίς οὐκ οἶδεν, ὅτι πᾶς λόγος τῶν ἔργων διεζευγμένος, μάταιος καθ' ἑαυτὸν καὶ ἀνυπόστατος; Ἡ δὲ τῶν ἔργων φύσις ἐν ὑποστάσει καὶ ἀληθείᾳ τὸ λεγόμενον δείκνυσιν. Οὐκοῦν προτιμότερος ἂν εἴη τοῦ λόγου ὁ διὰ τῶν ἔργων πληρούμενος ἔπαινος. Τοῦτο δὲ ἐστι τί; Τὸ διὰ τῆς μνήμης ἐκείνου τὸν βίον ἡμῖν γενέσθαι τῆς συν- ### English translation (Claude) after some part of the earth, and to collect praises for himself from the fine nature of a place? For it would be an insult and a lessening of true praises if, with virtue set before us for contemplation, water and leaves and a clod of earth and such things were admired. Besides, everything that is not a possession of free choice, however fine it may be, brings no praise to the one to whom it happened to fall. So let native land and family and everything of that kind which comes by chance to those it falls on be passed over in silence. But one might fittingly mention in his case that native land and noble birth which come by free choice to those who have striven for them. What, then, is Basil's noble birth? And what is his native land? His family is kinship with the Divine; his native land is virtue. For whoever has received God, as the Gospel says, has power to become a child of God. What nobler thing could one look for than kinship with God? And whoever is in virtue, cultivating it and drawing his income from it, surely makes his native land that in which he lives. Self-control was his hearth, wisdom his possession; and righteousness and truth and purity were the splendid and admired beauties of his buildings, living in which he exulted more than those who pride themselves on houses of marble and gold leaf. If anyone praises him from such a native land and dignifies him from such a family, he will both speak truly and make his praises from what was pleasing to him; but earth and blood and flesh and wealth and powers and the distinctions in these, let those who wish attribute to the friends of the world. If, then, the praise fitting to him cannot be contained by our speech, one should decline such efforts and rule out the arts of encomia. How then, someone may say, shall we keep his memory, if we do not do it with praises? How will the law of Scripture be fulfilled, which says the memory of the righteous must be with praises, if bringing the speech forward through true praises is impossible, and through more common ones insulting? But perhaps one need not be at a loss for some device, so as not to leave him wholly without the honour of our praise. What, then, is the device? Who does not know that every word separated from deeds is vain in itself and without substance? But the nature of deeds shows what is said in substance and truth. So praise fulfilled by deeds would be preferable to speech. And what is this? That through remembering him our life should become better than our ### Scripture references - John 1:12: allusion, high confidence - Prov 10:7: quotation, high confidence - Jas 4:4: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - A displaced OCR line (“σμένων αὐτῷ τοὺς ἐπαίνους ποιήσεται· γῆν”) is restored to the word κεχαρι-σμένων, where the sense requires it, by logged corrections. - Allusions: John 1:12; Prov 10:7 LXX (“the memory of the righteous is with praises”); Jas 4:4 (friends of the world). ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Bas. 815 (PG 46:815–816; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/815). ## Funeral Oration on Basil, Migne cols. 817–818 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/807/#p-817 - Source: PG 46:817–818 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: As wax takes the seal's image, true praise of Basil is to imitate him in self-control, poverty, devotion to God, and heavenly citizenship; disciples honour their teacher by showing his art in themselves. ### Greek text ηθείας βελτίονα. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ δακτυλίου σφενδόνης, καλλίστης τινὸς ἐν γλυφίδι προφαινομένης μορφῆς, ὁ ἐντυπωθεὶς τῇ σφραγίδι κηρὸς εἰς ἑαυτὸν τὸ ἐγκείμενον τῇ γλυφίδι κάλλος μετήνεγκεν, ὅλον τὸν χαρακτῆρα τῆς σφραγίδος ἰδίοις τύποις ἀναμαξάμενος· καὶ οὐκ ἄν τις οὕτω διὰ τοῦ λόγου τὴν εὐδιάθετον τῆς γλυφῆς ὥραν εἰς ὑπογραφὴν ἀγάγοι, ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ κηροῦ δεικνύων μεμορφωμένων τὸ κάλλος τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον, εἰ ὁ μὲν λόγῳ ψιλῷ τοῦ διδασκάλου τὴν ἀρετὴν ἀποσεμνύνοι, ἕτερος δὲ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ βίον καλλωπίζοι, διὰ τῆς πρὸς ἐκεῖνον μιμήσεως ἐνεργότερος ἂν εἴη τοῦ ὑψηλοῦ λόγου, ὁ διὰ τοῦ βίου πληρούμενος ἔπαινος. Οὕτως οὖν, ἀδελφοὶ, καὶ ἡμεῖς μιμησάμενοι τῇ σωφροσύνῃ τὸν σώφρονα, οἷς ποιοῦμεν, κατ' ἀξίαν τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐπαινέσωμεν, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα ὡσαύτως τὸ θαῦμα τοῦ σοφοῦ ἐν τῇ μετουσίᾳ τῆς σοφίας πληρούσθω· ὁ τῆς ἀκτημοσύνης ἔπαινος, ἐν τῷ καὶ ἡμᾶς γενέσθαι τῆς ὑλικῆς περιουσίας ἀκτήμονας· ἡ ὑπεροψία τοῦ κόσμου τούτου μὴ λεγέσθω μόνον, ὅτι ἐστί τις ἐπαινετὴ καὶ ἐπίδοξος· ἀλλὰ μάρτυς τῆς ὑπεροψίας τῶν κατὰ τὸν κόσμον σπουδαζομένων ὁ βίος ἔστω. Μὴ λέγε μόνον ὅτι τῷ Θεῷ ἐκεῖνος ἀνέκειτο, ἀλλὰ ἀνάθες καὶ σὺ σεαυτὸν τῷ Θεῷ· μήθ' ὅτι μόνον ἦν αὐτῷ κτῆμα ἡ ἐλπιζομένη ἀνάπαυσις, ἀλλὰ καὶ σὺ θησαύρισον σεαυτῷ τοῦτον τὸν πλοῦτον ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνος· ἔξεστι γάρ· μετέθηκεν ἐκεῖνος ἀπὸ γῆς εἰς οὐρανὸν τὸ πολίτευμα, μετάθες καὶ σύ. Τοῖς ἀσύλοις τοῦ οὐρανοῦ θησαυροφυλακείοις τὸν ἴδιον ἐναπέθετο πλοῦτον· μίμησαι διὰ τούτων καὶ σὺ τὸν διδάσκαλον. Κατηρτισμένος γὰρ ἔσται μαθητὴς ὡς ὁ διδάσκαλος αὐτοῦ. Καὶ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς λοιποῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασιν, ὁ ἰατρῷ μαθητεύσας, ἢ γεωμέτρῃ, ἢ ῥήτορι, ἀναξιόπιστος ἐπαινέτης τῆς τοῦ διδασκάλου τέχνης γενήσεται, εἰ τῷ μὲν λόγῳ θαυμάζοι τοῦ καθηγητοῦ τὴν ἐπιστήμην, ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ δὲ δεικνύοι μηδὲν τοῦ θαύματος ἄξιον. Ἐρεῖ γάρ τις πρὸς αὐτόν· Πῶς λέγεις ἰατρὸν τὸν ἑαυτοῦ διδάσκαλον, αὐτὸς ἀνιάτρευτος ὧν; Ἢ πῶς μαθητὴν σεαυτὸν τῷ γεωμέτρῃ λέγεις, ἀπείρως τῆς γεωμετρίας ἔχων; ᾿Αλλ' εἴ τις ἐν ἑαυτῷ δείκνυσι τὴν τέχνην ᾗ ἐμαθήτευσε, σεμνύνει τῇ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἐπιστήμῃ τὸν τῆς τέχνης, καθηγησάμενον. Οὕτως καὶ ἡμεῖς οἱ Βασίλειον αὐχοῦντες διδάσκαλον, τῷ βίῳ δείξωμεν τὴν μαθητείαν, ἐκεῖνο γινόμενοι, ὅπερ αὐτὸν ὀνομαστόν τε καὶ μέγαν Θεῷ καὶ ἀνθρώποις ἐποίησεν, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος, εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν ### English translation (Claude) usual one. For just as with the bezel of a ring, when a very beautiful figure appears in the engraving, the wax impressed by the seal transfers to itself the beauty in the engraving, taking off the whole stamp of the seal in its own impression; and no one could describe in words the well-composed beauty of the engraving as well as by showing the beauty formed on the wax; in the same way, if one man dignifies the teacher's virtue with bare words, while another adorns his own life by imitating him, the praise fulfilled through life would be more effective than lofty speech. So, brothers, let us too, imitating the self-controlled man in self-control, praise his virtue worthily by what we do; and in all other things likewise let the wonder of the wise man be fulfilled in sharing his wisdom. Let the praise of his poverty be in our too becoming without material possessions; let contempt for this world not only be spoken of as something praiseworthy and glorious, but let our life be the witness of contempt for the things pursued in the world. Do not say only that he was devoted to God, but devote yourself to God too; nor only that his one possession was the rest hoped for, but treasure up this wealth for yourself as he did; for you may. He moved his citizenship from earth to heaven; move yours too. He deposited his wealth in the inviolable treasuries of heaven; imitate the teacher in these things too. For the disciple will be perfected as his teacher. In other pursuits too, one who has studied under a physician or a geometer or an orator will be an untrustworthy praiser of his teacher's art if he admires his master's knowledge in words but shows in himself nothing worthy of admiration. For someone will say to him: “How can you call your teacher a physician when you yourself are uncured? Or how can you call yourself a disciple of the geometer when you have no experience of geometry?” But if anyone shows in himself the art he studied, he does honour by his own knowledge to the one who led him in the art. So let us too, who boast of Basil as our teacher, show our discipleship by our life, becoming what made him famous and great before God and men, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power to the ages of the ages. ### Scripture references - Phil 3:20: allusion, high confidence - Matt 6:20: allusion, high confidence - Luke 6:40: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Allusions: Phil 3:20 (citizenship in heaven); Matt 6:20 (treasures in heaven); Luke 6:40 (“the disciple will be perfected as his teacher”). The scan text ends in “τῶν”; the doxology is translated as the sense completes it. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Bas. 817 (PG 46:817–818; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-in-basilium/817).