The Poetry of Gregory of Nazianzus: Discovering a New Face of His Personality [1 ed.] 1527590674, 9781527590670

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The Poetry of Gregory of Nazianzus

The Poetry of Gregory of Nazianzus: Discovering a New Face of His Personality By

Theodor Damian

The Poetry of Gregory of Nazianzus: Discovering a New Face of His Personality By Theodor Damian This book first published 2023 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2023 by Theodor Damian All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-5275-9067-4 ISBN (13): 978-1-5275-9067-0

CONTENTS Preface by John McGuckin....................................................................... vii Author’s Note ............................................................................................. x The Poetry of Gregory of Nazianzus in the Christian Poetical Context of the Fourth Century ................................................................................. 1 Synesius of Cyrene and His Similarity with Gregory of Nazianzus’s Life and Work........................................................................................... 17 Gregory of Nazianzus: Where Greek Philosophy Meets Christian Poetry. Greek Philosophical Influences in Gregory of Nazianzus’ Poetry ........... 27 Gregory of Nazianzus’s Poetry and His Human Face in It ....................... 34 The Poetry of Gregory of Nazianzus: Self-assessment and Moral Formation ................................................................................................. 44 Poetry as Witness. Gregory of Nazianzus’s Three Special Vocations: Theology, Mysticism, Poetry.................................................................... 58 Man’s Deification in the Poetical Vision of Gregory of Nazianzus ......... 68 De hominis dignitate in Gregory of Nazianzus’s Poetry .......................... 77 The Art of Communication in Gregory of Nazianzus’s Poetry ................ 91 Managing Change in Gregory of Nazianzus’s Poetry .............................. 98

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Gregory of Nazianzus’s Poetical Legacy................................................ 108 Bibliography ........................................................................................... 115

PREFACE

St. Gregory the Theologian is one of the greatest intellectuals of the ancient world. In Late Antiquity he was called the Second Demosthenes, and several of his writings go further than that great orator in the purity of his rhetorical style and the moral passion of his teachings. His life was bound up with monumental events in the development of fourth-century Christianity and he has been rightly seen as the great theologian dealing with Christology, salvation history and trinitarianism. He ended his career in the royal city of Constantinople in the reign of Theodosius I as its archbishop and president of the Second Ecumenical Council held there in 381. His resignation, in the aftermath of the stalling of the debates, was called by Cardinal Newman one of the most selfless acts in the history of the Church. But Gregory was more than just a statesman rhetorician, he was also one of the great poets of that period in Greek literature known as Second Sophistic. In that era of late Hellenism, scholars had long been arguing over a piece of unfinished business in the conflicts that emerged between the schools of Plato and Aristotle. One of these friction points was Plato’s dismissal of poetry from his ideal society, since poets (the word itself means “maker”) “made up” their tales, and thus used lies, or at least fundamental falsehoods (myths of the gods that were frequently immoral and foolish), to convey their truths. Plato wanted poets banned from inhabiting his ideal society and wished them never to be cited in educating young minds. Even so, Aristotle and earlier Greek thinkers had stood up for the morally regenerative force of poetry, and found Plato’s root and branch condemnation somewhat puritanical, and indeed overly dismissive of a much more ancient Greek tradition of the gods gracefully inspiring the poet (en-thousiasmos meant divine inspiration) to a higher set of perceptions and sensations than those normally attainable by humanity. Poetry could thus be seen as truly an oracular event full of sacred inspiration, and so be given a special status in the way humans apprehend truth.

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Gregory, as a Christian thinker, came to that divide between Aristotle and Plato over the nature of poetry by adding his sense of inspiration of the Spirit of God coming through the most subtle refinement of the human heart and soul. This he saw beginning in an ethical conversion and culminating in a quietly reflective and ascetical attitude to life (leaving a small footprint and living compassionately) that allowed a human being to learn how to hear: that is, to use the ears of the soul to both hear and see deeper truths that passed over the heads of those who lived more superficially. He brought into the Greek literary debate a Christian sensitivity to the role that inspiration plays in the development of the spiritual intellect of humanity, and in his famed Theological Orations (27–31), Gregory concluded that God lifted up the prepared and intellectually refined speaker into higher visions of truth. For him, therefore, the manifestation of this in a world so often peopled by all manner of fake and misleading voices that tried to shout the loudest to be heard was the powerful but quiet voice of the poet. Gregory elevated poetry as one of the most inspired of all ways to seek the truth, and estimated that the real poet, the profound teacher of deep truths to their generation, was the one who had quietly studied, reflected and learned the trade of expressing those truths in the most elegantly persuasive manner possible. The ability to write purely and vivaciously he took as itself a proof of not only the quality of the poetry but the authenticity of the truths it expressed. Gregory’s range of poetry is restricted to his celebration of the mercy of God, and the joys of family and friendship. He did not go further. He wanted to honour Plato’s original insight with a tacit agreement that Greek poets often wasted their efforts on tales of war and strife, instead of love, simplicity and hope. So all in all he stands as one of the first and most powerful Christian poets, offering a synthetic resolution of the archaic controversy. A critical edition of all his poetry was prepared by the Polish scholars of the University of Kraków, but they were early casualties of the Nazi invasion, and were shot on the university steps. The folios of that critical edition were blown away in the debris of war, and still to this day Gregory’s poetry is only available in poor editions or scattered critical parts. Theodor Damian does us a great service in this present book by reminding us what a fine poet Gregory was. A well-known and successful

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poet himself, Prof. Damian is able to enter into the heart as well as the mindset of Gregory’s world. As an Orthodox priest, he too inhabits that same liturgical universe that so dominated Gregory’s priestly imagination. He is thus doubly qualified as poet and theologian to stand as an interpreter of the great poet-theologian, who was known in ancient times simply as “The Theologian.” Prof. Damian’s work opens up for us, the reader, a most welcome window into that ancient world; one that through the study of this great teacher, allows us to see so many instructive parallels to that of our own. As ever, the patient and focused “digging” of the poet takes us by the hand and leads us into a brighter light. John A. McGuckin Oxford University; Nielsen Professor of Early Christian History, Union Theological Seminary, New York; Professor of Byzantine Christian Studies, Religion Department, Columbia University, New York.

AUTHOR’S NOTE The chapters of this book were originally presentations given over the years at the International Congress on Medieval Studies at the Western Michigan University at Kalamazoo, Michigan, in the sessions organized by The Romanian Institute of Orthodox Theology and Spirituality, New York. The papers were published in several issues of the journal Romanian Medievalia (see www.romanian-institute-ny.org).

THE POETRY OF GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS IN THE CHRISTIAN POETICAL CONTEXT OF THE FOURTH CENTURY Introduction St. Gregory of Nazianzus was a personality of first rank in the complex world of the fourth Christian century.1 A. Benoit is certain that he was one of the greatest orators that ever existed.2 So much, in fact, was Gregory part of the life of his century, his ascetic withdrawals notwithstanding, that studying his biography one will be well introduced to the life of his time and vice versa.3 On one hand, as Paul Gallay notes, the fourth century was one of fighting, between Christianity and paganism, and within Christianity between sects, heresies and orthodoxy.4 On the other hand, this century was characterized by a strong admiration and enthusiasm for the classic Hellenic culture, which was true for the entire Roman Empire. Subjects taught in the Greek classic educational system were in fashion now, and students would strive to learn more and better the Greek letters and philosophy, even going from school to school looking for new and better programs and professors in order to obtain this type of instruction.5 For all the excitement and lore of the old intellectual life and production, the pagan writers of this century in the Roman Empire were not able to generate anything comparable with the great works of the old Greek authors. 1

M. Pellegrino, La Poesia de S. Gregorio Nazianzeno (Milano: Societa editrice “Vita e Pensiero,” 1932), 107. 2 A. Benoit, Saint Gregoire de Nazianze (Marseille: Typographie Marius Olive, 1876), 715. 3 Pellegrino, La Poesia de S. Gregorio Nazianzeno, 6. 4 Paul Gallay, La vie de Saint Grégoire de Nazianze (Paris: Emmanuel Vitte, 1943), 8. 5 Ibid., 4.

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The Poetry of Gregory of Nazianzus in the Christian Poetical Context of the Fourth Century

It was the advent and the growth of Christianity that changed the landscape. Whatever was missing in order to achieve that comparability was given by Christianity, still a new religion to many; that is why, Paul Gallay writes, the greatest authors in this period of time were the Fathers of the Church.6 In other words, the profound originality of the Christian spirit found, in the cultural background of the fourth century,7 the most appropriate condition for it to shock in its force and potential. This was like a kairotic encounter. This was the time of Gregory the Theologian. The Christian poetical context of St. Gregory’s poetry in this time and part of the world is in particular and more precisely represented by the poetry of some heresiarchs who, to better spread their teaching to the public, put it in verses so that they can be easily memorized, recited and transmitted. The most important of these heresiarchs are, chronologically and theologically speaking, the famous or infamous Arius, and then the two Apollinaris, the Elder and the Younger, especially the latter. Moving from theology to poetry, if we want to think of the most important poets of the abovementioned tradition in the fourth century, then Apollinaris the Younger will certainly have to be named, and next to him, and more precisely above him, Gregory of Nazianzus. It would probably be very interesting for us to compare the works of the two poets, both theologically and at the level of their ars poetica. Unfortunately, the works of Apollinaris, as many as they were, have been lost, and we know of his poetical elaboration only from references to them in other people’s works. In this very short chapter, I intend to make the sitz im leben, in rather general terms, of Gregory’s poetical production; that is, to try to recreate its context by looking in particular at the goal and intention of his poetry and at the heretical teachings that he argued against, more precisely Apollinarism. This will give the reader a chance to think about poetry and theology, even though Gregory’s theological responses to heresy are not the subject of this chapter. But before starting this presentation, I will state some considerations on Gregory’s poetry in general.

6 7

Ibid., 6. Pellegrino, La Poesia de S. Gregorio Nazianzeno, 6.

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Gregory’s Poetry: General Considerations Number: Apparently, there is no total agreement as to how much poetry Gregory wrote. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Jerome and Suidas wrote that Gregory produced thirty thousand verses, which seems not to be an exaggeration since a lot of them have been lost.8 Louis Montaut mentions only seventeen thousand verses,9 Francesco Corsaro seventeen thousand five hundred,10 Vasile Ionescu and Nicolae Stefanescu eighteen thousand (in 507 poems),11 while Jean Bernardi raises the number to twenty thousand (in 185 poems plus epitaphs).12 It seems to me that Jerome’s account the best chance to be realistic. Considering Apollinaris: if he was able to write a vast number of verses, why not Gregory as well? Gregory was extremely well educated, had a passion for poetry since his youth, and had the same reasons as Apollinaris to write poetry, if not more, as I will mention later. Julian the Apostate reportedly forbade Christian professors to teach Greek letters, arts and philosophy in their schools. In response, Apollinaris the Elder and the Younger began to versify entire books of the Old Testament and produce all sorts of poetry to counter the emperor’s order, continuing to teach literature that was Greek in fashion but Christian in context. We are also told that Gregory of Nazianzus not only encouraged the Apollinaris in their work but he himself started to do the same.13

8

“Gregory of Nazianzus,” in Catholic Encyclopedia, https://www.catholic.com /encyclopedia. 9 Louis Montaut, Revue Critique de Quelques Questions Historiques se Rapportant à Saint Grégoire de Nazianze et à Son Siècle (Paris: Ernest Thorin, 1878), 167. 10 Gregorio Nazianzeno, Poesie Scelte, Introduzione e Traduzione di Francesco Corsaro (Catania: Centro di Studi Sull’ Antico Cristianesimo, Università di Catania), xi. 11 Vasile Ionescu and Nicolae Stefanescu, Antologie din literatura patristica greaca a primelor secole [Anthology of Greek Patristic Literature of the First Centuries] (Bucureúti: Editura Institutului Biblic úi de Misiune al Bisericii Ortodoxe Române, 1960), 141. 12 Jean Bernardi, St. Grégoire de Nazianze. Le Théologien et son temps (Paris: Les Editions du Cerf, 1995), 308. 13 Benoit, Saint Gregoire de Nazianze, 147.

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In addition, Gregory and Apollinaris the Younger were competitors and adversaries in the framework of the Christological doctrine. It is supposed that Gregory wrote as much as the other to counter his heretical propaganda. The capacity and intellectual brilliance of Gregory, his inner burning bush for poetry, his love for the ancient works in general and literature and poetry in particular, and his talent confirmed by many all become reasons to believe that he wrote much more than has survived. Classification: If scholars do not have a unified idea concerning the amount of verses Gregory produced, they do not agree concerning the classification of the poetry either. The Catholic Encyclopedia online for instance divides the Theologian’s poetry into autobiographical verses, epigrams and epitaphs.14 I believe that the versified epistles should have been included here as another category. Another source divides them into Dogmatical, Moral, Personal, Epistolary, Epitaphs and Epigrams,15 while a simpler and more classical analysis indicates two categories: theological (thirty-eight dogmatic and forty moral poems) and historical (including autobiographical, lyrical and other poems).16 The name “historical” for the last category is considered confusing and ambiguous by Jean Bernardi17 because that would indicate that the poems have a purely historical nature, which is not the case. Both Benoit and Pellegrino believe that the classification of Gregory’s poetry is not a very rigorous one since poems that belong to one division can easily belong to the other;18 it depends on how one assesses the content, which is many times multi-faceted. Time: There is disagreement among scholars with respect to the time when Gregory wrote his poetry. Some authors believe that he wrote poetry only

14

“Gregory of Nazianzus,” in Catholic Encyclopedia. The Early Christian Literature Primers, http://www.earlychristianwritings.com /jackson2/11_gre.html; “Gregory Nazianzen,” 7. 16 Bernardi, St. Grégoire de Nazianze, 308. 17 Ibid., 309. 18 Benoit, Saint Gregoire de Nazianze, 725; Pellegrino, La Poesia de S. Gregorio Nazianzeno, 7. 15

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in the last five years of his life,19 others that he wrote it in general at the end of his life. According to J. Planche, that proves the force of his genius.20 I believe that one can argue that, on the contrary, if Gregory was a genius in poetry, he did not have to wait until the end of his life to write his beautiful poems but did so throughout it. Genius is passion and inspiration – and effort as well – and we know how passionate for literature and how cultured, educated and outspoken he was; it is easy to imagine him writing poetry even at a very early age. That would justify Jerome’s affirmation that Gregory wrote thirty thousand verses, even if we don’t have them all. In fact, Benoit mentions for his part that Gregory started to write poetry in his youth, otherwise one could not explain the vast amount of literary works he produced.21

Gregory as Poet Even though Bernardi writes that Gregory had two contradictory vocations – an intellectual and academic, and a Christian philosopher – (and that he sacrificed the first for the sake of the second),22 looking closely at the life of the holy man, one can easily argue that these two aspects are not contradictory at all, but on the contrary complement each other wonderfully. First of all, everything in Gregory’s life was centred on Christ. When it comes to the world, Gregory says that the one thing he clearly loved was the glory of eloquence. When he obtained it, he put it in Christ’s service.23 If one thinks of the desert and the harsh ascetical life, the theologian testifies that, there, his only richness and consolation is Christ.24 Every passion he had in life – eloquence, literature, philosophy, poetry in particular – he

19

L. Montaut, Revue Critique de Quelques Questions Historiques, 167; Rosemary Radford Reuter, Gregory of Nazianzus, Rhetor and Philosopher (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969), 50. 20 Gregorio Nazianzeno, Poesie Scelte, x; J. Planche, Choix de Poésies et de Lettres de Saint Grégoire de Nazianze (Paris: Librairie de Gide Fils, 1827), v. 21 Benoit, Saint Gregoire de Nazianze, 82; 582. 22 Bernardi, St. Grégoire de Nazianze, 320. 23 A. Benoit, Saint Gregoire de Nazianze, 75. 24 Ibid., 74–5.

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brought before his Lord. That is why his Christocentric life is evident from every page of his writings.25 When it comes to poetry it has to be mentioned that Gregory of Nazianzus admired and imitated several poets of ancient Greece such as Homer, Hesiod and Pindar, while having a special preference for Callimachus.26 Evidently the imitations are only in form and not in content. The autobiographical poem was not a novelty in Gregory’s time, either; however, he was the first Christian writer to cultivate this genre,27 according to Bernardi. The fact that, in relation to the form, Gregory continued older poetic styles does not diminish the value of his production. His poetry is characterized by pure diction and its elegant style, and is even more elevated than that of Homer in Planche’s view.28 It is rich and harmonious in language, intimate in the type of information it discloses, very lyrical and of an acute melancholy. This sentiment, according to M. Granier, was first introduced in poetry by Gregory.29 It is authentic in his writings because it is in itself sincere, sober in expression and inspired by great causes.30 He is considered to have been an extraordinary creator of words,31 just as his poems are highly elaborated and sophisticated. What Benoit says about his epitaphs – that, beyond their literary merit, they are a treasury as far as religion, art and history are concerned, for the precious information presented in these fields32 – I believe one can say about Gregory’s entire poetical production, or at least most of it. Even though there is so much appreciation for this poetry, there are others who do not seem so enthusiastic about it. G. Florovsky believes that Gregory’s verses are exercises in rhetoric rather than true poetry, with the exception of the personal lyrics where genuine emotion is displayed.33 25

Ibid., 76. Gregorio Nazianzeno, Poesie Scelte, x. 27 Bernardi, St. Grégoire de Nazianze, 319. 28 Planche, Choix de Poésies, vi. 29 Gregorio Nazianzeno, Poesie Scelte, xix, xi. 30 Benoit, Saint Gregoire de Nazianze, 735. 31 Bernardi, St. Grégoire de Nazianze, 313. 32 Benoit, Saint Gregoire de Nazianze, 84. 33 G. Florovsky, The Eastern Fathers of the Fourth Century, VII (Vaduz: Fl., Büchervertriebsanstalt, 1987), 69. 26

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When he talks about another great poet and theologian of the fourth century, Ephraem the Syrian – from the Syrian rather than Hellenistic world – Florovsky writes that St. Ephraem’s talent as a poet accounts for his exceptional influence and the great popularity of his works.34 If that is the case, one can argue that Gregory also enjoyed great popularity and had a very significant influence in the Christian life of his time and later. Then, he can be considered a talented poet too. In his remarks on St. Gregory’s poetry, Pellegrino goes beyond disputable definitions of aspects of these works and insists that, no matter what kind it is, no matter how one classifies it, it is poetry in the real sense of the term, and its author is a poet.35 Another source states that he was “the first of the Greek Christian poets to approach, even if at some distance, the poets of antiquity … no writer of verses ever surpassed Gregory in that elegant culture and that experience of the vicissitudes of life which are fitted to equip a poet.”36 Gregory had a true poetic fire. He inherited the Alexandrian and Athenian cultures but his being a Christian helped him bring into poetry new emotions of which the old poets never dreamed. Gregory created a new order of poetry: one of religious meditation and philosophic reverie.37

The Goals of His Poetry Even though it is said that Constantinople was the intended audience of Gregory’s major poetry38 – keeping in mind that the Apollinarians invaded Nazianzus and that their leader was in Laodicea, and that Gregory wrote a lot in order to counter this heresy, even though we may not have all his poems today – one can conclude that Nazianzus, Laodicea and maybe other places where the heresy predominated could have been part of the destination of Gregory’s major poetical works. Several goals can be considered when it comes to the poetry of the holy man of Nazianzus, and all of them help one to at least partially reconstruct 34

Ibid., 168. M. Pellegrino, La Poesia de S. Gregorio Nazianzeno, 6–7. 36 The Early Christian Literature Primers, 7. 37 Ibid. 38 J. A. McGuckin, St. Gregory of Nazianzus: An Intellectual Biography (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001), 375. 35

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the context in which he wrote at personal, moral, theological, literary and even political levels.

The Personal Purpose As Planche indicates, Gregory considered that in writing poetry he imposed a penance on himself, which was a normal part of the hardship that has to characterize one’s ascetical life. Since he had a propensity towards writing, doing it in verse is harder than in prose,39 are thus consistent with his ascetic tendencies. One might have the impression that this is only a pretext and, since he had a real passion for poetry, Gregory would have written it anyway as a penance, hobby or need. However, one has to recognize that writing in prose on the topics that represented the content of his poetry would have been easier, and Gregory himself acknowledges that. In fact, writing in verse in order to reduce the quantity of words is in line with the vow of silence taken by the ascetic. Less words are intended to reduce the human word to its original role of a humble auxiliary of the Word of God, Benoit observes.40 So it could have been that Gregory wrote his poetry at the end of his life as a relaxation from the cares and troubles of life,41 more than having been a serious pursuit, as one source indicates; however, it is hard to speak for somebody else when it comes to how one writes one’s own poetry. For if writing poems was for Gregory a simple way of relaxation, then one cannot easily explain why Gregory himself says that he wrote in verse in order to impose a hardship on himself, unless it was a hardship and a relaxation at the same time. It seems to me that due to the vocation and talent that Gregory had for literature in general and poetry in particular, and due to the fire in him, his love for letters and his solid education, he wrote poetry for its own sake as well. I believe that writing poetry for the sake of poetry does not diminish the affirmation he made concerning poetry as an ascetic hardship.

39

Planche, Choix de Poésies, vii; Gregorio Nazianzeno, Poesie Scelte, x. Benoit, Saint Gregoire de Nazianze, 76. 41 “Gregory of Nazianzus,” in Catholic Encyclopedia. 40

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It is clear from his writing that the Theologian wrote poetry in order to praise God in a special way. “I am God’s organ,” he says. “I write praises to Him, yet not like the pagan poets but with a Christian heart.”42 Poetry was written as a way of personal consolation when the author was in physical pain – as he often was, according to his own testimony – but also when he was taken by sadness at the thought of soon leaving the earthly life, when he looked at himself like an “old swan” and wrote verses on his past as a way to dignify the exit from the life’s scene.43 Finally, Planche says that Gregory wrote poetry in order to destroy calumnies published against him by his adversaries; in other words, to defend his reputation.44

The Moral Purpose As G. Florovsky, McGuckin, and several other scholars writing on Gregory the Theologian show, the ascetic of Nazianzus wrote poetry with moral purposes in mind; he wrote to teach moral principles to people, youths in particular, and hence many poems have a didactic character.45 Through his poems, he wanted to produce spiritual delight in the soul and mind of those young people and, in fact, all those who took delight in art and literature, but who also needed spiritual guidance. Poetry would be a way to make the moral teachings of the Christian Church more readily acceptable.46 Bernardi believes that, through his poems, Gregory also wanted to teach the youth the classic literary forms of poetical expression, while of course teaching them the new Christian values, and he does not exclude the possibility that some of Gregory’s poems may have been used as collective

42

Gregory Nazianzus, “De se ipso,” in Migne, P. G. vol. 37, 69–72; in Ionescu and Stefanescu, Antologie din literatura patristica greaca a primelor secole, 170. 43 Ibid., 167. 44 Planche, Choix de Poésies, 7. 45 G. Florovsky, The Eastern Fathers of the Fourth Century, 69; McGuckin, St. Gregory of Nazianzus, 376. 46 Ionescu and Stefanescu, Antologie din literatura patristica greaca a primelor secole, 167.

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recitations in the classroom, and were even intended to be accompanied by musical instruments.47 It is known that St. Gregory also wrote poetry to criticize episcopal hypocrisy,48 or general inappropriate attitudes and behaviours from the part of the clergy.

Theological Purposes It is evident from what he says in his own writings that Gregory also wrote poetry for apologetic reasons, to defend the Christian doctrine against the false techniques of different heretics, such as Arius, Diodore of Tarsus and in particular Apollinaris.49 In some of his letters, Gregory denounces the strategy used by Apollinaris whereby he tried to replace the Psalms with his own compositions in which he also used catchy slogans in order to spread his teachings more easily. McGuckin believes that this type of practice probably gave Gregory the idea of doing the same thing.50 It is obvious that the practice of putting one’s teaching in verses was not invented by Apollinaris as it was done by Arius at the beginning of the century, as well as Ephraem in Syria and probably others before and after that. To put one’s teaching in verses has at least three advantages related to the following aspects: the mnemotechnic aspect – verses can be learned and remembered, recited, repeated; the aesthetic aspect – because of its special styles, language and imagery, poetry is loved by many; the psychological aspect – poetry reaches the mind and the heart of the reader because of its specific means of expressing ideas. Consequently, since the idea already existed and since he had used poetry for other practical purposes – such as teaching or spreading the moral values specific to Christianity – Gregory decided to respond to the

47

Bernardi, St. Grégoire de Nazianze, 314. McGuckin, St. Gregory of Nazianzus, 371. 49 Ibid., 371; 391. 50 Ibid., 394. 48

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Apollinarian propagandistic poetry with his own poems, fighting his adversaries with their own weapons.51

Literary Purposes As Planche explains, in writing poetry, Gregory also wanted to show that poetry and music are not the exclusive prerogative of the pagans, but Christians can excel in them too.52 Thus, many poems were written by the theologian with the clear intention to supersede the work of pagan writers. Moreover, we are told that he even wanted to create a literary movement or school of Christian root and inspiration,53 a goal that he may have achieved without actually seeing its development.

Political Purposes Louis Montaut thinks that Gregory wrote poetry in order to offer a solution to the law of Julian the Apostate, the emperor who forbade Christians to teach the classic Greek works in their schools.54

The Apollinarian Heresy Before moving to a short presentation of the false teaching of Apollinaris, I consider it necessary to mention here a few other Christian authors who wrote poetry in Greek in the fourth century and who are integral to the poetical context of St. Gregory’s poetical works. Arius was the major Christian heresiarch of the fourth century who defended his theological positions in verse. His best known poem is Thalia.55

51 Benoit, Saint Gregoire de Nazianze, 616; Montaut, Revue Critique de Quelques Questions Historiques, 169; Gregorio Nazianzeno, Poesie Scelte, x. 52 Planche, Choix de Poésies, viii. 53 Ionescu and Stefanescu, Antologie din literatura patristica greaca a primelor secole, 167. 54 Montaut, Revue Critique de Quelques Questions Historiques, 169. 55 “Arius,” in Catholic Encyclopedia.

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According to Bernardi, Dorotheus wrote Christian poetry at the end of the third or beginning of the fourth century. It is known that in 343 he wrote a poem in hexameters.56 Nicetas of Remessiana (today Bela Palanka, Serbia), was in the fourth century the Bishop of the Dacians (ancestors of Romanians). St. Jerome indicates that Nicetas wrote “sweet songs of the Cross,” and Paulinus of Nola, a friend, praised Nicetas as a hymn writer. Modern scholarship found that the popular hymn “Te Deum (Laudamus),” long attributed to Ambrose, was actually Nicetas’s work.57 Synesius of Cyrene, born in the fourth century, died about 414. In 409 he was elected Metropolitan of Ptolemais; he was the disciple and friend of Hypatia of Alexandria. We have from him about ten hymns that talk about his theological and philosophical convictions. In the last of the ten he entrusts himself to Christ and asks for forgiveness of his sins.58 St. Ehpraem the Syrian did not write in Greek, but because he is an extremely prolific fourth-century Christian writer, and because many of his poetical works were translated and circulated in Greek even during his lifetime, I believe it is appropriate to include him here. Ephraem was born in Nisibis, Syria (date unknown) and died in 373. He was a hermit known for his severe ascetical life59 but also for his “outstanding gift for lyricism.”60 He wrote sermons, hymns and other works, mostly in the last ten years of his life while in Edessa and fighting heresies. G. Florovsky appreciates his theological works – most of them, even the orations, written in verse – as euphoric and melodious, sincere and intimate.61 Sozomen notes that he wrote about three million verses and Theodoret of Cyrus calls him a “poetic genius.”62 56

Bernardi, St. Grégoire de Nazianze, 312. “Nicetas,” in Catholic Encyclopedia. 58 Ibid. 59 “St. Ephraem (Life),” in Catholic Encyclopedia. 60 Florovsky, The Eastern Fathers of the Fourth Century, 168. 61 Ibid. 62 “St. Ephraem (Poetical Writings),” in Catholic Encyclopedia. 57

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Ephraem’s poetry was divided into memre – orations, homilies which might explain why his verses are so many – and madrase – hymns containing instructions written for choral singing, and even to be accompanied by harps.63 In his about one thousand works64 Ephraem basically intended to give moral instruction, to glorify God and the Theotokos, and to fight heresy. He wrote against the Gnostics, Marcion and Manes specifically, the Arians and Julian the Apostate,65 and Bardesanes (Bar-Daisan) and his son Harmonius.66 Bardesanes was the first Syrian poet and a heretic teacher; he used to spread his teachings in metrical forms in order to have better success with the public.67 As Gregory of Nazianzus did with his verses against the Apollinarians, so Ephraem, in order to fight the heretic with their own weapons, put his theological doctrines in verse. According to Florovsky, “it is Ephraem’s talent as a poet that accounts for his exceptional influence and the broad and immediate popularity of his verses.”68 Apollinaris the Elder was a Christian grammarian living in the fourth century, first at Berytus in Phoenicia, then in Laodicea in Syria. When in 362 Julian the Apostate forbade Christian professors to teach the Greek letters in their schools, he and his son Apollinaris the Young started to replace the Greek literature with Christian, and composed great works in verse and prose of Christian root and inspiration. Socrates in his Ecclesiastic History mentions that Apollinaris the Elder put the Old Testament Pentateuch in Greek hexameters, converted the first two books of Kings into an epic poem, and wrote tragedies, comedies and odes imitating the Greek authors. Sozomen does not mention Apollinaris the Elder’s works in his history but indicates those of his son. None of those works survive.69

63

Ibid.; Florovsky, The Eastern Fathers of the Fourth Century, 169. The Saint Pachomius Library (http://www.voskrese.info/spl/XefremSyria.html). 65 Florovsky, The Eastern Fathers of the Fourth Century, 169. 66 “St. Ephraem (Poetical Writings),” in Catholic Encyclopedia. 67 Florovsky, The Eastern Fathers of the Fourth Century, 168. 68 Ibid. 69 “Apollinaris (the Elder),” in Catholic Encyclopedia. 64

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The Poetry of Gregory of Nazianzus in the Christian Poetical Context of the Fourth Century

Apollinaris the Younger, born in Laodicea in 310, was, according to Charles Raven, “perhaps the most remarkable, as he is certainly the last, of the great Hellenic Students and thinkers who devoted their lives … to the pursuit of truth.”70 With an incontestable, profound and solid education, he was a brilliant rhetor who, just like Origen earlier, “combined in himself all that is best in the culture of his time,”71 according to one testimony. In 360 he was elected Bishop of Laodicea. Florovsky mentions that he wrote “countless” works, most of which have been lost,72 and he certainly worked with his father on the creation of a Christian literature imitating the Greek models after Julian the Apostate’s edict. Sozomen states that Apollinaris’s writings were of great elegance and at least equal to the originals on which they were modelled.73 His poetical works along with those of his father enjoyed extreme popularity in their time. They were sung and recited, we are told, by people at work, meals, festivals and many other events great and small.74 Apollinaris was a Nicene theologian, admirer and friend of Athanasius. For his friendship with the great Alexandrian bishop, in particular for having received him when Athanasius was travelling through Laodicea, Apollinaris was excommunicated by the Arian Bishop of Laodicea, George.75 Before 362, according to Florovsky, apparently in order to counter the teaching of Diodore of Tarsus, leader of the Antiochene School, Apollinaris developed his own Christological views yet tried to stay faithful to Athanasius’s Christology, according to whom in Incarnation the Divine Logos took upon himself our flesh (ȝȓĮ ijȪıȚȢ IJȠNJ ȜȠȖȠNJ ĬİȠNJ ıİıĮȡțȠȝȑȞȘ).76 Florovsky explains that Apollinaris did not distinguish between nature and hypostasis; consequently, he saw in Christ one person with one nature and one hypostasis. In order for Christ to have been able to save us, He must 70

Charles E. Raven, Apollinarianism: An Essay in the Christology of the Early Church (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1923), 127. 71 Ibid., 153. 72 Florovsky, The Eastern Fathers of the Fourth Century, 16. 73 Raven, Apollinarianism, 137. 74 Ibid., 153. 75 Ibid., 130. 76 Florovsky, The Eastern Fathers of the Fourth Century, 16–17; Raven, Apollinarianism, 170.

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have had a Divine Intellect, not a human one that is bound to weakness and cannot overcome sins. Hence in Jesus Christ the Word of God had taken an animated body. The intellect was that of the Divine Logos itself. Consequently, the Word became flesh, but not fully human. It results that the two entities, divine and human, only coexisted in Christ’s person.77 According to Florovsky, Apollinaris was a trichotomist. Jesus Christ had a flesh and soul that were human and a spirit or nous – the Divine Logos. The abovementioned author believes that, based on the Apollinarian theology, Jesus Christ’s humanity is similar to ours but not consubstantial with it,78 even though it is also said that Apollinaris made a “lasting contribution to the Orthodox theology in declaring that Christ was cosubstantial with the Father as regarding His divinity and co-substantial with us as regarding his humanity.”79 For their Christology, the Apollinarists were called “sarkolaters,” or those who adored the flesh,80 because they refused to recognize the human spirit in Christ. Paul Gallay considers that Gregory had to get involved in the Apollinarian controversy. On his way to Constantinople, he tells us, he worried about it. In addition he had to write a professional refutation of the heresy at the request of Cledonius, the priest he installed at Nazianzus, since this city dear to the poet was invaded by disciples of Apollinaris.81 Yet his response, like his entire Christology, is in Florovsky’s evaluation, in as much as it relates to this heresy, not elaborated like a theological system. It is rather a confession of faith expressed in clear and precise language that anticipates the later Christological formulae relating to the two natures and one person of Christ.82

77

Ibid., 16–17. Ibid., 85. 79 “Apollinaris of Laodicea,” in Academic/Wikipedia (https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/1372756). 80 Benoit, Saint Gregoire de Nazianze, 605. 81 P. Gallay, La vie de Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 217. 82 Florovsky, The Eastern Fathers of the Fourth Century, 86. 78

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The Poetry of Gregory of Nazianzus in the Christian Poetical Context of the Fourth Century

Conclusions Gregory of Nazianzus, with his solid and vast knowledge in dialectic, philosophy, theology and scriptures, with his incomparable eloquence, and his talent as a writer, exercised a great influence on his contemporaries and generations after him. These qualities made him win all the disputes where he had to defend Christian Orthodoxy, as Benoit notes.83 Gregory was a poet of first rank who surpassed all other poets writing in Greek in the first Christian centuries. He is also rival to the greatest writers of the pagan antiquity. These classic writers were great and inimitable indeed. However, they addressed people’s imagination and spirit with their literary production. Gregory’s works, in no inferior position vis-à-vis the first ones, first address not only the mind and spirit but the heart of the reader as well.84 Villemain considers Gregory of Nazianzus “the poet of Eastern Christendom” per excellence, as he believes that poetry is the chief accomplishment of the saint.85 It is worth noting that fifty years after Gregory’s death his writings became normative and the Roman Church issued a declaration that his poetry was to be admitted entirely in the Church as works of greatest authority.86 For his import of great and exalted ideas from the theological science into poetry he was even likened to Dante and it was suggested that he be considered on just ground the father of modern poetry.87 In summary, according to Benoit, Gregory’s providential mission in the Church was: to fight successfully against the great heretics of his century; to work towards the reform of the clergy’s morality; to bring Constantinople to the Orthodox faith; and to create a form of Christian poetry and use it in order to serve, defend, ornate and beautify the Christian truth.88

83 Benoit, Saint Gregoire de Nazianze, 402; Pellegrino, La Poesia de S. Gregorio Nazianzeno, 5. 84 Benoit, Saint Gregoire de Nazianze, 737; 741. 85 “Gregory of Nazianzus,” in Catholic Encyclopedia 86 Benoit, Saint Gregoire de Nazianze, 595. 87 The Early Christian Literature Primers, 7. 88 Benoit, Saint Gregoire de Nazianze, 743.

SYNESIUS OF CYRENE AND HIS SIMILARITY TO GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS’S LIFE AND WORK Biographical Information Synesius of Cyrene was a philosopher, poet and writer, bishop and politician, and in all a bright personality of his time considered a model by many, which means that people not only looked up to him for guidance and instruction and tried to follow his style in life and work, but also that his image remained after his death as a symbol and light for the generations that came after him. Synesius was born in Libya in the second half of the fourth century to a wealthy and prominent family,1 in a time when Rome was in decline and Byzantium was growing. More precisely, he lived between 370–412 or 413 AD. Christian Lacombrade writes that Synesius was of Greek origin, belonging to generations of Greek colonists who had founded the city of Cyrene in Libya in the seventh century BC and who made an advanced citadel of the Hellenistic culture out of it.2 Being raised in a rich family, Synesius benefitted from a solid education and excelled in several fields of study. He studied letters and sciences in lay schools in such great intellectual centres as Alexandria and Athens, being very fond of the major Greek writers and philosophers. Due to his application to sciences and his stages in Alexandria, he came to admire, know and be a close friend of Hypathia, a celebrity of the time, whom he called “mother,” “sister” and “master.” His attraction to the Greek letters

1

Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity, vol. I, The First Five Centuries (New York and London: Harper and Brothers, 1937), 195. 2 Synesius of Cyrene, Hymnes, texte etabli et traduit par Christian Lacombrade (Paris: Ed. Les Belles Lettres, 2003), v–vii. Future references to this work will be given as Hymnes.

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Synesius of Cyrene and His Similarity to Gregory of Nazianzus’s Life and Work

and philosophy influenced him to adhere to Neoplatonism, which was an in-vogue philosophical movement.3 In terms of his scientific preoccupations, Synesius had a passion for astronomy. He collaborated with Hypathia, created a kind of planisphere that he called an “astrolabe,” and also ordered a hydroscope for his scientific observations and experiments. Otherwise, he spent his life praying, reading and hunting.4 He was also a politician and as such had a high-profile public life; between 399 and 402 Synesius was appointed ambassador of his country to Constantinople, where his sister was married. Three years seems not to be much time. Indeed, he would have liked to stay there longer, but an earthquake that happened in 402 forced him to leave.5 When he talks of his years spent in Constantinople, the great, cosmopolitan city, capital of the later Byzantine Empire, he calls them “exile in Thracia.” This is a metaphor, of course, since on the one hand he was fit for such type of public life and function, and on the other he even had family in Constantinople. But at the same time, it is a valuable piece of information indicating that Constantinople was basically on Thracian territory and, as a culture, built on the foundations of the Thracian civilization. Synesius even talks about his pious endeavours there, where he apparently worshipped pagan gods and was a pilgrim to places of pagan mysteries.6 One year later in 403 he married, and his marriage was blessed by the Patriarch of Alexandria, Theophilus. In just a few years, a major turning point would take place in his life. He was such a prominent figure that in 410 the population of the city of Ptolemais elected him as their bishop and Patriarch Theophilus accepted the call, even though Synesius at the time was not even baptized into the Christian Church. This was not unusual in that epoch. Of course, he had to receive the baptism as he accepted the call for episcopacy, yet, strong personality that he was, he told the Patriarch that he would accept the consecration under two conditions: first, he would keep his wife; second, he would keep his personal convictions regarding the

3

Hymnes, x–xv; Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity. Hymnes, xix; xxxvi. 5 Ibid., xxv. 6 Ibid., 13, 6. 4

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Neoplatonic philosophy and teaching, even though in public he would profess only the Christian doctrine. The Patriarch agreed and Synesius became a bishop.7

Literary Works Together with science and philosophy, literature was a major passion in the life of Synesius. According to his own confession, he wrote all types of poetry and prose in use at his time. In fact, philosophy and poetry were considered inseparable, in particular in the Neoplatonic circles, as it had been for the old Greek philosophers.8 Among others, Heraclitus of Ephesus and Parmenides of Elea used to produce their philosophical works in verse. This practice was taken over by Christian theologians, one of whom was a great contemporary of Synesius, Gregory of Nazianzus, also a poet, philosopher and bishop. Although Lacombrade believes that the ascetic life was not what characterized Synesius’s existence,9 because in his hymns he often asks for physical and spiritual comfort, he was not a stranger to the contemplative life either. Actually it is in his retreat and solitude that he wrote his first verses,10 and where, in general, he felt inspired to write, just like his counterpart, Gregory of Nazianzus. Synesius’s literary works Cynegetics, which enjoyed great success in Alexandria, and Dion, a collection of pieces on his biography, diatribes, apologies and introspection, indicate a talent where the grace of the sophist and the fervour of the philosopher were combined, but also a person whose life was characterized by harmony, in particular the one between theory and praxis,11 theory actually being related to contemplation, and less to theoretical thinking as understood today.

7

Ibid., vi; x; xxxvii. Ibid., xii. 9 Ibid., 90. 10 Ibid., xxii. 11 Ibid., xiii; xxxi. 8

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Synesius of Cyrene and His Similarity to Gregory of Nazianzus’s Life and Work

Poetry, Philosophy, Science and Theology In Synesius’s life and understanding, poetry and philosophy were close to each other, just as science and philosophy were strictly connected. Philosophy and poetry had as their main purpose rapprochement to God’s mystery, and the advance towards the proximity of the divine, whereas science, or physics more specifically, was more organically connected to metaphysics,12 which constituted its raison d’être. In this system, the four fields of science, philosophy, metaphysics or theology and poetry validated each other’s inquiry in as much as they all intended to deal with the human’s intuitions of the Absolute, and tried to lead towards it. According to Etienne Gilson, in that time theology was considered a transcendent science and philosophy as part of theology. While philosophy kept its own method and rational character, by working together with theology it did not lose anything, and was instead fulfilled.13 Being in love with Hellenism, where his works were solidly rooted, Synesius was a Platonizing Christian.14 What he retained in particular from the Platonic philosophy was the idea of the total opposition between good and evil, and of the eternal return of all things to the original source.15 He found these beliefs to be so much in consonance with Christian theology that when he was ordained bishop not only did he not want to renounce them, but he was convinced that the Church ministry would help him reach fulfilment in philosophy. In fact, Plato was considered by many Christian theologians to be “avant la letter,” and the attachment of several Christian theologians to him, such as Synesius in this case, then Gregory of Nazianzus and Basil the Great, indicate how much Christian theology and philosophy were considered compatible with each other. Yet science and theology were not considered as being in opposition either. As mentioned, for Synesius, physics was organically connected to

12

Ibid., 10. Etienne Gilson, Christian Philosophy (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1993), xvi; xx. 14 E. Norden, “Agnostos Theos,” in A History of Christian-Latin Poetry from the Beginnings to Close of the Middle Ages, edited by F. J. E. Raby (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997 [1953]), 31. 15 Hymnes, xxix. 13

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metaphysics.16 In a sense, metaphysics is the ground where both science and philosophy meet, yet metaphysics incorporated theology. The physical observation of nature combined with metaphysical speculation was already a Neoplatonic and at the same time scientific practice that was common among several Greek philosophers. Hypathia herself practised it, as did Ptolemy who believed that science is the best leader to the theological knowledge.17 The belief was that for one to be a philosopher one had to tend towards the transcendent reality in life, to base one’s life on the metaphysical quest.18 Yet, that was not excluded from theology’s requirements either.

Major Themes in Synesius’s Hymns As one reads Synesius’s hymns, one notices that the major themes are repeated throughout. These topics are present or announced in the first poems then reiterated in the rest. Synesius did not write his hymns for liturgical purposes, Lacombrade believes,19 even though some of them (hymns VI and VIII) seem to have been. Yet if worship was not in Synesius’s mind when he wrote his poetry, given their Christian theological content, it is clear that they had a didactic character, in particular the dissemination of the Christian doctrine, just like Gregory of Nazianzus did with his own poetry. Yet one can find in Synesius’s hymns numerous cosmological and cosmogonical references indicating both Hypathia’s influence on Synesius in scientific matters and his own passion for astronomy, as well as his Platonic and Neoplatonic beliefs. In general, his hymns deal with the destiny and place of man in the universe, the heavenly origin of the soul, the fall of the soul from a superior world and the need of purification in order to get back to the divine, as well as the role that asceticism plays in the process of one’s intellectual purification that leads to the true knowledge.20 Such themes were common in Gregory of Nazianzus poetry as well.

16

Ibid., xiv. Ibid., xix. 18 Ibid., xviii. 19 Ibid., 11. 20 Ibid., 6–7. 17

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Synesius of Cyrene and His Similarity to Gregory of Nazianzus’s Life and Work

Soul and Spirit One of the aspects where such themes are present is related to Synesius’s elaboration on the relation between spirit and matter (Hymn I (III) and II (IV) in particular). Indicating a strong Platonic influence, the spirit is considered good, even in its current fallen condition, and matter is considered evil and an obstacle to the spirit’s ascension to the divine. This view on the soul’s condition is evident in Hymn I where, just as the Christian doctrine says, the author writes that the soul is the image of God in us; through the fall, the soul was not lost or destroyed, but only darkened, diminished,21 which allows for it to be redeemed by God. The spirit – matter opposition in Synesius’s poetry indicates a certain type of dualism, but not like the Manicheistic one, because the matter is not eternally anti-God. However, Synesius believes that matter is demonic in nature, which seems to be too much to say for a Christian who professes that God created it good, and that Christ’s body in Incarnation was not an evil one. One can note in Synesius’s discourse on the nature of the soul or matter an influence of the empiric philosophers and then of the Ionian philosophers who were strongly preoccupied with the issue of the nature of things, or again the Platonic influence where liberation from matter was life’s goal. This indebtedness is evident when Synesius prays to God the Father to give him protection in body and soul in view of the final union with Him: “God, take out of the matter may praying soul” (Hymn II [IV]).22 If the soul belongs to a higher world but struggles in the fallen condition here, it has to go through a process of three steps in order to return to where it belongs: purification, illumination and union with the divine. These three steps together with the doctrine of the soul’s procession and return are common in both Neoplatonic philosophy and mystic Christian theology. These themes are found in numerous places in Synesius’s poetry, just like in that of Gregory of Nazianzus.

21 22

Ibid., 57. Ibid., 67.

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In Hymn I (III), Synesius expresses in several ways his aspiration to purity,23 catharsis being a fundamental step that leads to theoria, the contemplation or vision of God, and then to union with Him. The theological value of purification, its soteriological aspect in particular, is a common theme in ancient sacred texts, as it can be found as long ago as in the eighteenth century BC in the Negative Confession of the Egyptian Book of the Dead.24 Yet as purification is an important step in the salvation of one’s soul, so is illumination and union, and Synesius asks in several ways and repeatedly for them (Hymn I [III]).25

The Trinitarian Doctrine Another aspect of Synesius’s poetry related to the Christian theology he was preaching is the doctrine of the Trinity. In many places in his Hymns, he begins his verses with a doxology offered to God the Father, God the Son or the Holy Spirit.26 In the case of the Holy Spirit, sometimes he uses expressions similar to the emanationist language of the Gnostics, like when he uses the word “effusion” for “procession.” However, when doxologizing the Father, while enumerating some of the Father’s attributes (“Father, author of your own paternity; Father without father”), one can detect some Plotinian accents when he describes the Father as “The One and all, One through all,” even though such descriptions represent Orthodox doctrine as well. The Trinity itself, as a divine entity, is also mentioned in Synesius’s praises. The Orthodox understanding of the Trinitarian dogma is visible in places where the writer emphasizes the equality of the Trinitarian hypostases and their distinction without separation, thus anticipating the later Chalcedonian formula related to Christ’s two natures, divine and human, that cohabitate in the incarnated Son of God in a way that is unmixed, unchanged, undivided and unseparated.

23

Ibid., 39; 57. E. A. Budge (ed.), The Egyptian Book of the Dead (New York: Dover Publications, 1967), 346–9. 25 Hymnes, 56; 60. 26 Ibid., 48, 50, 51; 62–3. 24

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Synesius of Cyrene and His Similarity to Gregory of Nazianzus’s Life and Work

It is interesting that sometimes in his doxologies, besides stressing the Church’s official doctrine of the Trinity, he personalizes the praise by talking about personal matters, like when he mentions his “dear Libya” in the middle of such a praise, as if transforming doxology in request prayer. Otherwise, personal requests in non-doxological contexts can be found very often, like this one that indicates the special character that he was, and which can also be considered funny or even inappropriate, although very human: “Don’t give us, God, to be rich, but keep poverty away from me”(!).27 Other personal notes in his poetry can be found in verses where he talks to his own soul, showing psalmic influence (Psalm 103: “Bless, O God, my soul”) or where he uses the psalmic model to indicate that he cannot hide away from God’s face.28 Synesius understands the poem itself to be a sacrifice, an offering to God. This concept, together with one’s conversation with one’s own soul in hymns, was later incorporated into the hymnology of the Christian Church and is still used in different liturgical services today.

Synesius of Cyrene and Gregory of Nazianzus It is interesting to follow the evolution and characteristics of the life and work of these two distinguished and distinct personalities in the life of the Christian Church of the golden century of Christianity. Both bishops, both poets and writers, both in love with philosophy put in the service of theology. Their poetry in particular, which is of special interest here, expressed both who they were and what they believed. They wrote with passion. Gregory explained this passion in his own terms: “There is a boiling in myself.”29 Their poetry was a vehicle for expressing pleasures and displeasure, prayer and complaint, but also, and very importantly, for disseminating the Orthodox Christian doctrine in a world where heretics,

27

Ibid., 56. Ibid., 45. 29 Stelianos Papadopoulos, Vulturul rănit: ViaĠa Sfântului Grigorie Teologul [The Wounded Eagle: The Life of Saint Gregory the Theologian], translation from Greek into Romanian by Constantin Coman and Cornel Coman (Bucureúti: Editura Bizantina, 2002), 261. 28

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“such as Arius and Apollinaris,”30 were disseminating their teachings through the use of verses so that the public better adhered to them. Most probably there was a canon for the rules of poetry at the time since both writers structured their hymns in a similar way: an invocation first (also common in ancient Greek poetry), a prayer of request or the story making the body of the poem, and a doxology.31 The hymn was composed symmetrically in order to increase its beauty, since the invocation and the doxology were basically similar, at least in address. One has to also note that both writers’ first hymn is the largest, with a concentration on biographical data. Both Synesius and Gregory were in love with philosophy and considered it compatible with theology, including the aspect of the religious life which has to do with asceticism, solitude, contemplation and prayer. For Synesius, more than for Gregory, because Synesius was a scientist as well, contemplation had to do with observation (of nature for a better understanding of it, or in order to better see God in it). Observation was the scientific method of the time, inherited from the empiricist philosophers of ancient Greece. For both Synesius and Gregory, contemplation (observation) connected philosophy to theology. Both wanted to be, and were, philosophers understood in the theological sense of the term. Their great knowledge of and love for the Greek letters is visible in their poetry as both include or make references to non-Christian elements and use leitmotifs that come from Platonic or Neoplatonic writings,32 even though more so in the case of Synesius compared to Gregory. In terms of the Christian doctrine, both expressed the Nicaean Orthodox formulation of the Trinitarian dogma: three in One, Trinity and unity.33 Of course, Synesius did that after his ordination as bishop, when he gave up his preaching of a trinity or triad of a hierarchical type, as found in Plotinian teachings.

30 Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, translated and with an introduction by John A. McGuckin (Convent of the Incarnation, Fairacres, Oxford: SLG Press, 1995), xix. 31 Hymnes, 9. 32 Ibid., 5. 33 Ibid., 6; 19.

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Synesius of Cyrene and His Similarity to Gregory of Nazianzus’s Life and Work

According to Lacombrade, Gregory and Synesius, in their poetry, tried to express for the Greek world “the harmonious unanimity … of a Christian people of heterogeneous culture.”34 It was only the two of them who did it with such great interdisciplinary ability and passion in the fourth and fifth centuries (the fourth in particular). Just like Gregory of Nazianzus, whose writings had been translated into several languages and whose circulation was extraordinary, Synesius of Cyrene was considered a Byzantine writer of great influence through the centuries after his death. Both were masters and models in that they knew how to combine old and new cultural elements into a work that was looked at as being original and pioneering, and which was put at the service of the Christian Church.

34

Ibid., 3–4.

GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: WHERE GREEK PHILOSOPHY MEETS CHRISTIAN POETRY. GREEK PHILOSOPHICAL INFLUENCES IN GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS’S POETRY Introduction Gregory of Nazianzus was one of the greatest intellectuals of his time, who excelled in the fields of letters, philosophy and theology. He was well known for the spread and depth of his knowledge, and for his subtlety in philosophical and theological interpretations, and was both admired and envied. His immense poetical production (about twenty thousand verses) indicates these qualities just as his prose does. Gregory the Theologian, as he is also called, had a vocation for academics and monasticism. He travelled between both and at times was in dilemma, thinking that his passion for the first might somehow be in the detriment of the other. As for philosophy, while it was certainly part of his intellectual, academic vocation, it was also considered strictly related to the monastic calling. In his understanding, philosophy is on a higher level than academia, even if it is part of it, because it combines silence and contemplation with prayer and study. In fact, in spite of their possible apparent antagonism, the two vocations proved to be complementary and were very productive in the life and works of the great theologian. This chapter is generally related to the philosophical aspects of Gregory’s poetry, but it will focus on the Greek philosophical influences there. In terms of poetry, I will focus my investigation on one poem, “On His Tribulations (Sur ses épreuves),” rendered in parallel Greek and French

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Gregory of Nazianzus: Where Greek Philosophy Meets Christian Poetry

versions in Saint Grégoire de Nazianze: Oeuvres Poétiques, Poèmes Personnels, II, 1, 1–11 (Paris: Edition Les Belles Lettres, 2004). My focus on Gregory’s poetry is related to the gap that exists in academia between Patristic and Classical studies and the need to bridge it. As Preston Edwards writes: “A literary study of Gregory’s poetry provides an opportunity to bridge this gap, bringing our understanding of late antique literary culture in the Greek East abreast of recent developments in Latin studies.”1

Gregory’s Love for the Greek Culture Gregory of Nazianzus received an education that allowed not only familiarization but also expertise in the Greek language, literature and philosophy. First of all, he belonged to a family that could afford to pay a mentor for his education as a child. Then, as adolescent, he continued his studies at Caesarea in Cappadocia where he was colleague with his later friend Basil, and in Antioch and Alexandria, before moving to Athens2 where he stayed for eight years. As Jean Bernardi points out, since, “Athens used to have a detestable reputation in the Christian midst, one had to have a great passion for literature and culture in general in order to have a fervent Christian family agree to send there a young Christian.”3 Being very diligent and studying there for such a long time, Gregory was even ready to start an academic career4 there, such as teaching in the higher-education system. As his biographers mention, in Athens, this city of culture, beauty and polytheism, the young Gregory, together with a group of Christian students under Basil’s leadership, became very renowned. Together with Basil, he 1

Preston Edwards, “I Will Speak to Those Who Understand: Gregory of Nazianzus’ ‘Carmina Arcana’ 1, 1–24,” http://www.apaclassics.org/AnnualMeeting/02mtg/abstracts/Edwards.html. 2 Saint Grégoire de Nazianze: Oeuvres Poétiques Personnels, II, 1, 1–11, texte établi par André Tuilier et Guillaume Bady, traduction et notes par Jean Bernardi (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2004). 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid., xvi.

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took courses with all the professors available there and in all fields of study. They also took advantage of all the famous libraries of the city.5 This fruitful time and activity were well reflected in his works. The numerous citations and references in his verses to classical authors, major and minor, demonstrate how well acquainted he was with Greek literature and philosophy.6 As P. Edwards indicates, frequent allusions to the works of Callimachus, Apollonius and Theocritus (not to mention lesser authors like Aratus and Nicander),7 words, expressions, images, metaphors and ideas taken from them and many others such as Homer, Hesiod, Heraclitus of Ephesus, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Skeptics, the Cynics and Stoics represent a clear testimony as to the extent to which the Greek culture was present in Gregory’s literary production. In fact, he himself confesses in his long autobiographical poem “De Vita Sua” that “an ardent desire for Letters used to possess me,”8 referring to the Greek culture in general. Gregory’s passion for it, as mentioned earlier, led to fears that he might be guilty of unfaithfulness to the monastic vocation.9 That certainly did not happen, yet there are places, in his poetry at least, where it is difficult to distinguish if a certain practice or idea comes from the Christian tradition or the Greek cultural tradition, since it is present in both. Such is the case with the closing of his poem on tribulations with a prayer where he enumerates a long series of divine attributes. Bernardi explains that invoking all of God’s names in a prayer is a practice that is directly rooted in the oldest Greek religious tradition.10 Whether Gregory took it from one place or the other is not of much theological relevance since he is one of the highest authorities among the Church fathers and knew what to take from the other cultures around him, the Greek in particular, and what to integrate into the Christian tradition.

5

Ibid., xvii. Ibid. 7 Edwards, “I Will Speak to Those Who Understand.” 8 Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 62. 9 Ibid., 35, note 128. 10 Ibid., 43, note 166. 6

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Greek Philosophical Influences in Gregory’s Poetry Given all the above, it is no surprise to find in Gregory’s poetry, as in his works in general, models or paradigms from the Greek culture. One combination of literature and philosophy present as a Greek influence in his poem on his tribulations, for example, is related to the beginning of the poem. It starts with a kind of prayer that sends one’s thought to the classical Greek invocation of the muses at the beginning of such a work, and at the same time the prayer is done in such a way as to indicate the philosopher behind it.11 However, one of the most persuasive philosophical influences in Gregory’s theology, even as reflected in his poetry, is related to the conception about the soul and body, which, as many of his interpreters agree, comes from Plato’s philosophy. In his poem on his tribulations (“Sur ses épreuves,” verses 35–45), on which we are focusing here, but in other poems as well, Gregory speaks of the two ways of living in the world: one is attachment to the physical body, to the world; the other is attachment to the soul and the world of the spirit. While this theme can be found in the Bible, it is very common in the ancient Greek literature, such as in Hesiod (Works), Theognis, Xenophon (Memorabilia), and in particular the Platonic philosophy that Gregory knew very well. Gregory has the tendency to blame the body and its senses for the many mistakes one makes, which by way of consequence leads to the many tribulations one suffers in life. This is how Gregory puts it in one case: “My soul, don’t be agitated by the heavy worries this world, together with the prince of this world, generate in the miserable humans as they consume in humans the form of God’s image just the way in which rust consumes iron, and thus causing that a superior condition become one linked to the Earth, so that the soul be blocked from taking with it high up a piece of dust inclined towards the Earth …”12 In the same way, Gregory speaks of the unhappy soul dressed in flesh – the “dense flesh” as he puts it in one verse, which he equates with “the

11 12

Ibid., 2. Ibid., 4.

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darkness of the spirit” (expressions found in Plutarch as well).13 He speaks of the detestable death of the clayish source of vice,14 whereas this world is compared with “the black clay of Egypt” and this life with “the bitter tribulations of Pharaoh,”15 evidently making an allusion to the biblical narrative of the Jews’ exodus from Egypt. This way of looking at the relation between body and soul is very Platonic, since according to Plato’s philosophy the flesh is essentially evil and is considered the jail of the soul, from which the soul needs to make all efforts to escape. In Gregory’s words: “My poor soul … aspires to finally see the day of its freedom”16; it “needs to be under way towards the divine homeland.”17 Even if the Bible has the theme of two ways – the way of the soul and the way of the flesh – it is evident that the manner in which the Theologian speaks of them here is more Platonic than biblical. After all, in the Bible there is harmony between body and soul, which is why God created man that way; and in addition, if the body was evil, the Son of God would not have taken it in Incarnation, one might think. Yet even going a step further and admitting that the body is evil and the Son of God became incarnate in such a body, once this body was assumed by the divine Logos in Incarnation, it cannot be considered evil any more. Thus, the powerful, irreconcilable antagonism between body and soul in Gregory’s works indicates how much Greek philosophy formed and informed his thinking. As Bernardi notes, the two ways Gregory is speaking of in his poem are to be placed in the larger context of the categories of good and evil. In Gregory’s thinking, the good consists in the radical separation from the world, which is offered by the monastic life and mortifications. Here, Gospel is interpreted through the prism of the Platonic philosophy.18

13

Ibid., 16. Ibid., 5. 15 Ibid., 25. 16 Ibid., 24. 17 Ibid., 25. 18 Ibid., 6, note 18. 14

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This way of looking at the categories of good and evil can be found with nuances in later Greek philosophical views, such as those of the Cynic or Stoic traditions, for instance. It is these traditions that Gregory echoes when he gives an account of his life and the way in which he did not allow himself to be caught in the comfort of many daily pleasures, as he enumerates many of them.19 He considers them to be false goods, and is proud to have been able to distinguish between true and false to keep his soul pure.

Conclusions Not only is Gregory’s love for the ancient Greek culture evident from his works in general, but in several places he offers direct and emotional testimonies for his love of the Greek letters, philosophy, and Athens with all its intellectual traditions. Yet as much as he loved them all, he tells with some kind of pride or the conscience of the one who fulfilled his mission that he made them all prostrate before Christ, as if just because he loved them so much, he baptized them and brought them to Christ’s service and that of the Church. This is how he writes about it: “I had only one love: the glory of the Letters brought together by the East and by the West and also by Athens, the honor of Greece. For them I suffered a lot and for a long time, but in turn I made them bow down to the ground before Christ, and I made them cede to the word of the Great God.”20 Gregory’s fame did not wait for him to die in order to overflow everywhere. His prose writings in particular made him a world celebrity before he became old. Towards the end of the fourth century, his works were translated into Latin then several Oriental languages. In the Greek world, we are told, the circulation of his writings was just extraordinary.21 Yet Gregory’s poetry, to the modern reader, is still a great unknown. It deserves more attention on both sides of academia, letters and theology, as it can offer a great deal of help for a more adequate understanding of who

19

Ibid., 7, note 24. Ibid., 9. 21 Ibid., xlvi. 20

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Gregory was as a man, as a simple human being but also a bright theologian, scholar and mystic, as well as a better understanding of his time and context.

GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS’S POETRY AND HIS HUMAN FACE IN IT Introduction In the present chapter I do not intend to give an exhaustive analysis of St. Gregory of Nazianzus’s poetry from a certain point of view, such as theological, moral, philosophical or literary. I simply want to present Gregory as a common man, in his very human hypostasis. St. Gregory the Theologian is the one we know very well, especially from his theological writings. The man Gregory, who reveals himself in poetry in a different way than we are accustomed to think of him, is not known at all or just a little. I think that for us to adequately understand holiness – in the human case – it is useful to emphasize the struggle, temptations, doubts, suffering and the way towards it, not just the state of holiness, like an achieved ideal without a strong link to a lower background. For instance, I was always more impressed by the story of Mary the Egyptian knowing where she came from and what she had achieved than if I had only heard the ideal portrait of her. St. Gregory’s poetry is the place where one needs to go in order to discover the struggling man, not just the saint.

Gregory’s Vita St. Gregory of Nazianzus was the greatest rhetorician of his age,1 one of the Church’s literary giants.2 A powerful theologian with a sensitive and

1

Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, translated and with an introduction by John A. McGuckin (Convent of the Incarnation, Fairacres, Oxford: SLG Press, 1995), viii. 2 Ibid., v.

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poetical nature,3 he liked philosophy and was a master in this field. He was a “philosopher of Beauty.” When his great and good friend Basil left Greece after his studies there, Gregory wanted to leave too, but his friends insisted so much that he decided to stay, though not for too long. However, thinking of his home country, he declared that over there he would be able to live as a “philosopher of Beauty,” meaning as a Christian who tends towards perfection.4 This testimony indicates that he had a predilection towards meditation and contemplation, towards isolation where he could speak less and pray more, where – as it was perceived – it is easier and the right place to achieve perfection. He withdrew into hesychia several times in his life, even when he was in his highest administrative position in the Church in 381 as Archbishop of Constantinople. After troubles during the Second Ecumenical Council, he did not hesitate to resign and go to his favourite place, home, where he had the opportunity to withdraw into isolation in order to pray, practise silence and write poetry.5 That was also the reason why he renounced the yoke of marriage.6 *** Gregory was born in 329 in Cappadocia in a town called Naziansus or Arianzus, to Gregory the Elder (converted to Christianity in 325) and Nonna. In 345 he met Basil while in school in Caesarea of Cappadocia. He also studied in Caesarea of Palestine, Alexandria and Athens. His friendship with Basil the Great, especially in Athens, remained exemplary in history. When he came back to Nazianzus he was baptized by his father, then ordained, although against his will. Gregory ran away to Pontus to stay with Basil. In 372 he became a bishop, again against his will (ordained by Basil 3

Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, textes choisis et présentés par Edmond Devolder, dans la traduction de Paul Gallay (Namur, Belgique: Les Editions du Soleil, Levant, 1960), 45. 4 Ibid., 39. 5 On God and Man: The Theological Poetry of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, translated and with an introduction by Peter Gilbert (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001), 1. 6 Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 63.

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and his father) for a small place called Sasima. Gregory would not live there. In 380 he was archbishop of Constantinople for about a year. He died in 389–90.7 While in Constantinople he was a resolute defender of the Nicene doctrines against the Arians that had taken the city. This is where he delivered his famous five theological orations that brought him the name “the Theologian.” As John McGuckin notes, Gregory’s life was marked by five determining facts: his loyalty to his father, his recurring ill health, his friendship with Basil the Great, his involvement in the Church administration and theology (the Constantinople phase), and his awareness of his brilliant gifts.8

Gregory as a Poet According to Paul Gallay, Gregory of Nazianzus was the first one who conferred value to Christian poetry. There is no Christian poet of value who wrote in Greek before Gregory.9 In the same way, A. A. Vasiliev believes that Gregory’s poem “De vita sua” (“On His Own Life”) is worthy of consideration among the most beautiful literary works in general.10 Gregory was aware of his gifts and used them extensively. He wrote over four hundred poems.11 As Paul Gallay notes, his poetic style is evident in even his theological works.12 The main message of Gregory’s poetry is trust in God.13 It is in his poems and letters that we discover the human face of Gregory. Besides his saintly side – contemplation, ascetic endeavour, prayer, fasting, deprivations – here we see the common person that he was, very similar to us, with all his pains, doubts, problems, depressions, suffering and struggle.14 Gregory’s ability to make connections, to carefully observe the reality around him, significantly strengthened his descriptive skills. One can see 7

On God and Man, 23–6. Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, viii. 9 Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 27. 10 Ibid., p. 27 11 Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, v. 12 Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 21. 13 Ibid., 21. 14 Ibid. 8

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that in the following example where he describes Sasima, his bishopric, for which he was consecrated in 372 against his will by Basil and his father Gregory the Elder: There is a place on a highway in Cappadocia, at the junction of three roads; there is no water, no greenery, nothing of what can please a free man; this is a narrow, little village terribly hateful; there is nothing but dust, noise, carts, lamentations, moans, tax collectors, instruments of torture, chains; in fact, the inhabitants are nothing but foreigners who pass by, vagabonds; this is my Church of Sasima! (“De via sua”)15

In the long poem on his own life, his reflective observations are formulated quasi-aphoristically. When he speaks with indignation of how his father forced him into ordination, Gregory writes: “It is terrible when love is combined with power.”16 Here is another sapiential thought: “If the one who is obliged must remember the services he received, the benefactor must forget the services he offered.”17 This is just a simple illustration of the reasons why Gregory’s poems deserve to be brought back to our attention. “They deserve a small renaissance,” as Raymond Van Dam put it.18

The Purpose of His Poetry Gregory wrote his poetry for four basic reasons: to address those who had similar experiences, as the poet himself says; to give guidance to the young people in a form agreeable to them; to show that Christians are good at arts, or even better than non-Christians; and as a way of talking to himself, especially when he considered himself to be an “aged swan,”19 according to his own metaphor.

15

Ibid., 45. Ibid., 48. 17 Ibid., 44. 18 Raymond Van Dam, “98.05.09 White, ed. Gregory of Nazianzus. Autobiographical Poems” (book review of Caroline White (ed.), Gregory of Nazianzus, Autobiographical Poems [New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996]), in The Medieval Review 5 (1998). 19 On God and Man, 12–17. 16

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In writing poetry, Gregory did have in view the practice of Apollinaris the Elder and Younger, who put their teachings in poetical form so the public would adhere to them. Gregory did the same to counteract them. He also believed that by writing poetry he would write less than otherwise, and that would fit his ascetical purposes.20 It was also affirmed that he wrote poetry in order to obey a transcendent poetical genius.21

Types of Poetry Different people classify St. Gregory’s poetry differently. The poems are historical and dogmatic or moral, according to some scholars,22 or literary, historical, doctrinal and devotional23 according to others. Peter Gilbert speaks of poems related to what is to be believed, the theological ones (on the Holy Trinity, creation, providence, angels, soul and salvation in Jesus Christ); poems related to what is to be done (moral poems), like the one on virginity, for instance; poems related to who am I, autobiographical as well as elegies and lamentations; and of those that form an Ars poetica – poems about writing that can be considered literary theory or criticism, like the one on his own verses.24 As John McGuckin writes, Gregory’s poetry, and especially the dogmatic poems, indicate the essence of the patristic legacy: prayer and theology are one.25 As the old adage coined by Evagrius says: the theologian is the one who prays.

Other Characteristics St. Gregory of Nazianzus’s poetry is often in Homeric style, and difficult and deliberately obscure; it can also be suggestive or ironic.26 He wrote in several verse forms: dactylic hexameter, iambic trimeter, mixed meters and 20

Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 26–7. Ibid. 22 Ibid., 29. 23 On God and Man, 1. 24 Ibid., 6–13. 25 Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, v. 26 Ibid. 21

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elegiac couplets.27 He is diverse in tone and expression, natural in his emotions, and sincere in sharing his deepest convictions and beliefs.28 He cultivates the paradox, the apparent contradiction, as when he speaks about the Son of God: “He was mortal yet God/ of the race of David, yet maker of Adam, He wore flesh, yet was beyond bodily form/ He was sacrifice and celebrant/ sacrificial priest and God Himself,”29 Gregory writes, echoing the liturgical cheruvimic prayer where Jesus is the offer and the offered, the one who receives and the one who gives Himself to many. As a theologian, particularly in the dogmatic poems, Gregory uses the apophatic style: “How can words sing Your praise when no word can speak of You?” Since God is unutterable, unknowable, the best way to speak of Him is to offer Him a silent hymn. (“Hymn to God”).30 “You are not one thing, not all things,” the poet continues, recalling Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite’s cataphatic and apophatic theology, “You bear all names, how shall I name You who cannot be named?” (“Hymn to God”).31 Confident in what he says when speaking about God, and believing in the divine existence in the process while being in the middle of his engagement and details, he suddenly warns the reader: “But here God Himself is going to inspire me” (“Meditation on the Christian Dogma”).32 He put a very strong emphasis on his thought that, in poetry in particular, the Holy Spirit was at work in the mind of a person.33 In the same poem he addresses the readers – who can be imagined to be the heretics themselves, or people who read their teachings – with self-credit and pride: “Listen now to our excellent doctrine on the soul!”34 Another theological poem (“On the Incarnation of Christ”) ends in this challenging and unusual way, very triumphally: “Then come here to me that 27

On God and Man, 6. Ibid. 29 Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, 4. 30 Ibid., 7. 31 Ibid. 32 Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 68. 33 J. A. McGuckin “Gregory of Nazianzus: The Rhetorician as Poet,” in Gregory of Nazianzus: Images and Reflections, edited by T. Hagg and J. Bortnes (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2005), 193–212. 34 Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 72. 28

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Gregory of Nazianzus’s Poetry and His Human Face in It

I may cut these verses on the tablet of your heart with a pen that needs no ink.”35 In “Epitaph for Himself,” where Gregory talks about himself and where he acknowledges that he was born and saw the light due to prayer (his mother’s prayer), the reader is talked to imperatively: “Inscribe that in stone.”36 Part of his style is using repetition in order to create effect, talking to himself in the third person (like in the epitaph on his death and that of his parents, where he laments: “How sad Gregory’s hand is, how bitter the letters that he writes”),37 or personifying things, as when he is talking to his flesh, that “sweet enemy”: “flesh, respect me, contain your desires and stop your rage against my soul … I will reduce you to slavery” (“Against the Flesh”).38

Gregory as a Common Man More than any other writings, Gregory’s poetry shows “a man conscious of his failures and flaws,”39 hence the emphasis on humility in many ways. Gregory appears to be a man like all others, one who experiences depression, pain, doubt, who laments and complains, who shows indignation, who is afraid to die or indulges in little vanities. For instance, when he describes his friendship with Basil in Greece, he confesses: “If I can praise myself a little, I would say that both of us, we did not remain unremarked in Greece” (“De vita sua”).40 He was afraid to die and prayed ardently, when, on his way to Greece, the boat he was on was about to disappear in a great storm in the sea. He was all the more afraid as he thought of a double death: one physical, in the sea, and the other spiritual, because he was not yet baptized in the water of salvation (“De vita sua”).41

35

Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, 6. Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 60. 37 Ibid., 59. 38 Ibid., 57. 39 Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, vi. 40 Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 38. 41 Ibid., 35; 37. 36

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In “De vita sua,” again Gregory speaks with great pain and indignation against his best friend Basil for having forced him into episcopacy, especially in that desolate place, Sasima, while Basil was a great bishop surrounded by fifty auxiliaries; he feels that he had been treated with unexpected arrogance, and reminds Basil of the good times when “you were not elevated above the clouds.”42 Gregory is appalled at Basil’s behaviour and accuses him of lying: “Basil, who, for all the rest was the man the most distant from lie, had lied to me,” the poet complains in the same poem.43 He complains again when, with resignation and “blessed wounds,” he frustratingly accepts the assignment to Sasima (“De vita sua”): “Not to have even some bread to share with a visitor! … Ask me to show a different type of scourge and propose this destination to other people wiser than me,” the bitter reply sounds. “Oh, wild beasts. Will you not receive me? With you, I think, I could find more faithfulness!”44 When his father called him to Nazianzus to help him after Gregory, running from Sasima, took refuge in the mountains, the new bishop finally accepted in fear of punishment. In fact, the father was blackmailing Gregory when he wrote to him: “Give me this favor, please; if not, let someone else put me in the tomb!” (“De vita sua”).45 Gregory’s struggles with the flesh are also remarkably described in another poem (“On the Human Nature”), where he seems to anticipate the tone of Charles Baudelaire in his poem “The Flowers of Evil”: “Flesh, this is what I have to tell you, to you, so difficult to heal, sweet enemy … ferocious amazing thing! But it will be even more amazing if you finished by being my friend!”46 The very human side of Gregory is shown in a poem (“On a Calumniator”) where he calls another man evil, instead of praying for him as one would expect: “My friend,” Gregory starts, “You say many evil things about me/ If you were a really virtuous man/ I might believe you right in some of them; but if you are an evil man/ then I pray you will always speak evil of me/ 42

Ibid., 43–5. Ibid., 44. 44 Ibid., 45–6. 45 Ibid., 48. 46 Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 78. 43

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indeed all the more./ And so I would win both ways/ for I would hate to be held in good esteem by wicked men.”47 The last verses here might remind those who know Romanian poet Mihai Eminescu of his diatribe against those he despised, at the end of one of his letters: “If I bear easily and with a smile their hatred/ Their praises for me, certainly, would sadden me beyond measure.” In “De vita sua,” Gregory expresses the same kind of feeling: he is indifferent to applause and noisy acceptance by vane men.48 In some cases, Gregory of Nazianzus has a very unusual way of addressing God in his prayers, which resembles the Old Testament prophets’ negotiation or protest in their dialogue with God. In “De vita sua,” describing the storm that nearly killed him, he tells us that he almost warned God that if He would take his life now, He would lose a worshiper!49 This can be taken as ironic and also a very bold attitude. In another instance (“Prayer to Christ”), talking about a life of suffering as if he knows the mystery of being, or when one is considered pure by God as if protesting and judging, Gregory addresses Christ: “Lord, what need is there now of any further pains to purify my soul?”50 This seems also to be intended to teach God a lesson of logic! The attitude here is in line with a very interesting sense of selfjustification that transpires in a poem where he tells Christ what to do and argues with Him: “Christ, do not press heavily upon me/ or crush me in the weight of sorrows/ for there are many more evil than I/ on whom you show your mercy.”51 Not only does he imply that “I am not the worst of them, after all,” but he reproaches Christ for the way He chose to deal with His servants! In the poem “The Serpent,” Gregory seems to imply that Christ has an obligation to serve him, because, “I am Yours, o, Christ/ then, save me as it is Your heart’s desire to do.”52

47

Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, 19. Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 49. 49 Ibid., 37. 50 Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, 17. 51 Ibid., 15. 52 Ibid. 48

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Or, put another way: “In the morning I greet my God/ and resolve to give no room to sin/ … / Do you, / my Christ/ bring this beginning/ to a happy end” (“Morning Prayer”).53 This can sound like nice prayer, but also as if he is expressing an intention not to sin, then leaves it to God to make sure he doesn’t. He has done his job, now it is up to God to do His!

Conclusion St. Gregory of Nazianzus was a very interesting personality. In a sense, like walking in the footsteps of his master, Jesus Christ, he was weak and strong, sarcastic and uncompromising with his enemies, but a good person with a loving nature; he experienced contrasts and extremes with stoic resolve while being affected in other cases beyond possibility of expression. Indeed, his poetry reveals the real man and the real saint, and is thus a significant instrument for the necessary knowledge of the one who was a brilliant theologian, a powerful philosopher and the greatest rhetorician of his age.54

53 54

Ibid., 14. Ibid., viii.

THE POETRY OF GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: SELF-ASSESSMENT AND MORAL FORMATION Introduction Considered to be the greatest poet of the fourth century and a model for the following generations, Gregory of Nazianzus is as courageous to speak about himself as he is in his ecclesiastical capacity when he either formulates the doctrine of the Christian Church or defends it against heretical attacks. His self-disclosures might seem unusual for a personality of his stature, all the more so because he had not only friends and admirers but also many enemies. He was not afraid that confessions about himself in his poetical works might be speculated on and interpreted against him. Just as he writes with force, conviction and openness about the doctrine of the Church in verse, in order for the Christian teachings to have better adherence to the public, and youths in particular, so he writes about himself in an open and direct manner as if he writes to one who already knows him and from whom he cannot hide anything. Of course, that one is God. Both Gregory’s courage and sincerity have to do with his belief in God and with how he believes God is present in his life. According to Peter Gilbert, Gregory’s poetry can be grouped into four categories: dogmatic poems that have to do with what one is supposed to believe, ethical poems related to what one is supposed to do, biographical poems, and poems (actually one poem) concerned with literary critique.1 This chapter looks at some of the poems in the second and third category, not in order to exhaust the topic but only to give a sketchy profile of Gregory’s person and what he believes the right way of being in the world is.

1

On God and Man: The Theological Poetry of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, translated and introduced by Peter Gilbert (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001), 6–13.

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Self-assessment Many of Gregory’s reflections and disclosures about himself are due to his inquisitive mind and restless, impatient nature. He recognizes this in a confession where he says: “I am not an athlete of patience.”2 This impatience with finding out as much as possible about everything, including God, leads him to ask pertinent and often obsessive questions about what interests him most. At times, with admirable objective self-criticism, he comes back on his reflections, questions and answers, recognizing that he did not find what he thought he would, because, as he again confesses: “I was too confident in myself.”3 When it comes to identity, Gregory, with his existential restlessness, is not content in thinking about character features that for many others would be considered as defining one’s personality; he goes much beyond that. He goes on to an exploration of his origin, not in terms of who his parents were and so on, but in terms of the origin of humankind. When he says in his poem “Conversations with the World” that he doesn’t know where he comes from, but knows that he comes from God, 4 his attitude here is a sort of Socratic “I know that I don’t know.” That means, I know (believe) I come from God, but how can I know God in order to have a real chance to understand myself? This is like Herman Bondi’s epistemological question: How can I know something without knowing everything?” The question of where I come from is related to the question of where am I going? The response to this one is similar to the first, meaning he knows yet he doesn’t know, he knows (believes) he goes towards something greater but how can he know what that “greater” is? Another issue related to these questions is about the evidence that it is not man (Gregory in this case) who turns God around, but vice versa, as if one would expect that man can turn God around. In this context, Gregory

2 Stelianos Papadopoulos, Vulturul ranit: Viata Sfantului Grigore Teologul [The Wounded Eagle: The Life of Saint Gregory the Theologian], translated by Pr. Dr. Constantin Coman and Diac. Cornel Coman (Bucuresti: Bizantina, 2002), 202. 3 Ibid., 249. 4 On God and Man, 129.

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even writes in the same poem that God “acts violently” towards him. This is a very interesting thought: the fact that I cannot determine God’s action but He can determine mine amounts to divine violence on me! Of course, the meaning of that strange expression is not that God forces him to love God or to walk in the way of salvation, but that God is inescapably present in his life, somehow in the sense in which the Psalmist in the Old Testament wrote: “Where could I go to escape from Your Spirit or from Your sight? If I were to climb up to the highest heavens, You would be there. If I were to dig down to the world of the dead, You would also be there. If I had wings like the dawning day and flew across the ocean, even there Your powerful arm would guide and protect me” (Ps. 139: 7–10). Part of one’s identity is, of course, the soul. Yet the nature of the soul is divine according to Gregory’s writing in On the Cheapness of the Outward Man. The soul is a breath of God, he writes, and consequently also part of the soul’s nature is its constant tendency to progress towards God (epektasis), or the soul’s longing for God, for deification. The soul “always yearns exceedingly for a greater share of the things of heaven above.”5 It is this soul then that gives the highest dignity to man, and Gregory says this as if reflecting a biblical understanding of man’s identity. Gregory: “So great is man, as a very angel.” Psalm 8: “What is man that you remember him? Or the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than angels, You crowned him with glory and honor.” The same question of self-assessment is posed insistently and with force in the abovementioned poem (“On the Cheapness of the Outward Man”) where the contrast between theological hope and nihilism might take one by surprise. Gregory, after stating the question “Who was I, who am I? What will I become before long?”6, which is addressed directly to God, on the other hand states that the human beings under consideration are nothing. In a sense, this type of thinking reminds one of Christ’s cries on the cross, “My God, why have you forsaken Me?” interpreted by some theologians as meaning that for a while there was a separation between the Father and the Son. Yet this is not the case since Jesus, upon his death, said: “Father, in Thy hands I entrust My Spirit,” which indicates that even with his death on

5 6

Ibid., 144. Ibid., 138.

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the cross there was no separation between Father and Son, and implicitly that Christ’s death on the cross did not create a separation within the Holy Trinity. The same pattern of thought is found in Gregory’s statements here. On the one hand he speaks of the nothingness of human beings, but at the same time says it to God, not to somebody else or himself, as if he would be left out of God’s communion. This speaking in sceptical or nihilistic tones about the human being, while directing the speech to God, entirely changes the perspective and meaning of the statements; it is not like when speaking in separation from God’s communion. Consequently, one must distinguish between theological nihilism (or scepticism) and philosophical nihilism. The theological one is a conviction, a belief that springs from an assessment of man’s position coram Deo, from an awareness of the distance between Creator and creature, from the humility of such a realization, whereas the philosophical nihilism, in as much as it is a rational reflection that has nothing to do with God, is of course at the opposite end. Again, this kind of theological nihilism is not foreign to the biblical description of man, as one finds similar descriptions of man’s life in several places in the Holy Scriptures, such as this one: “We humans are like grass or wild flowers that quickly bloom. But a scorching wind blows and they quickly wither to be forever forgotten” (Psalm 103: 15–16). Even when Gregory seems to cross the threshold of acceptable theological nihilism – like when he seems to doubt the eternal life of the soul or our existence after terrestrial death when he writes: “but concerning another existence, who is to say?”7 – one has to keep in mind that he is a believer and not an atheist; he is like Thomas, Christ’s disciple, in a way, who, while seaming to doubt Christ’s resurrection (“If I will not put my hands in the place of the nails I will not believe it”), when Christ comes and talks to him, he exclaims enthusiastically: “O, my Lord, and my God!” Yet, just as Thomas’s doubt should be understood, in the context of his relationship to Christ, as a rhetorical response to the apostles’ news that they

7

Ibid., 141.

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had seen the Lord, so Gregory’s strange statement that indicates doubt in the other existence might also be simply understood as rhetorical. Or when Gregory makes another strange, apparently risky statement (and he is aware of its strangeness, as one can see from the way it is formulated): “I will venture to make this true assertion: that man therefore is God’s toy,”8 thus implying that man cannot really participate in his own salvation and is not God’s partner, which hurts the very idea of man’s being the image of God, even then this statement must be understood in its close context where right after this affirmation he is careful to state his faithful, durable, attachment to Christ: “I who have clung to Christ will never let go.”9 It is as if no matter what he says it has to always be understood in the light of his firm, lasting faith in and attachment to God and Christ, and it is this stance that represents one of the main features of Gregory’s identity. “On Human Nature” is one of the poems with the most intense questioning about the nature of the human person, a poem of deep introspection and self-analysis where he basically speaks to his own soul and asks the never fully answered question: “Who am I?” Gregory is obsessed with this question; his mind is like a “whirlpool spinning.”10 He recognizes being “worn out by worries, night and day”11 to such a point that he even speaks of a “divine terror” that has bowed him, as if God were responsible for generating such thoughts in one’s mind. Gregory places the issue of identity not only in the present but in the past and future too. Of course he notices that one’s identity changes over time: “Something of me is gone by, something I am now completing, another thing I will be, if I will be.”12 In this case, the issue is whether human identity affects human nature and in particular that of the soul. In other words, is there a difference between human identity and human nature, and if there is one, which one, and even more basically, what is to be understood by human nature? He struggles with the question: Who am I? Yet he recognizes right at the beginning, after posing the question, that he doesn’t know, like in 8

Ibid., 143. Ibid. 10 Ibid., 132. 11 Ibid., 135. 12 Ibid., 133. 9

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another poem mentioned earlier, as if abandoning the investigation. However, that does not happen as he goes into a complex discussion of the issue, moving from observation to observation and analysing each philosophically (he is openly Heraclitan when he declares: “I am, indeed, a troubled river’s current, always in transit”; “You won’t go twice through the same flow of river that you traversed before, neither will you see the same man as he is at present”),13 and theologically (when he declares: “I am an image of God,” and that, “God, by his passion, might give me a defense against my passions, and perfect me as god by his human image”14). Like in a previous case, one can notice an interesting sort of contradiction between the philosophical and theological positions in Gregory’s analysis of the self. Philosophically he is Heraclitan when he speaks of the transient character of the human condition. The idea of transience, which makes Gregory compare one’s life with vagabonding (“For all of us are groundlings, vagabonds”15), moves easily into sceptical thoughts (all life is suffering;16 “the ache exists for each one in our race”17) that then slips into nihilism (“I am nothing”;18 and “Nothing is of any use to me”19). Also, philosophically speaking, when he defines himself as “a troubled river’s water,” as mentioned above, he makes a Heraclitan reference, yet comes with a personal note when he describes the water as “troubled.” The idea of transience found in Heraclitus’ Panta Rei (everything flows) image, does not necessarily imply “trouble”; it can, on the contrary, imply harmony. Here Gregory personalizes the image and applies it to himself, thus indicating again his own troubles and struggles with the question: who am I? The contradiction between these types of thoughts and the theological ones becomes evident when one thinks of the optimism naturally implied in the theological conviction that one is God’s image, is in God’s hands, and is in faith moving towards God’s Kingdom. 13

Ibid. Ibid., 135. 15 Ibid., 132. 16 Ibid., 134. 17 Ibid., 136. 18 Ibid., 133. 19 Ibid., 135. 14

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The idea of deification, theosis, which culminates one’s understanding of the final communion with God (which would be enough to eliminate any sceptical or nihilistic thought from one’s mind) is clearly present in Gregory’s verse where he says that God took human image to “perfect me as god,”20 a statement that sends directly to the theological, patristic (Athanasian) formula according to which God became man in order for man to become god. In his struggle to assess and understand who he is as he speaks to his own soul, with direct references to Plato’s philosophy and echoes from the empiricists’ study and observations on the nature of things, Gregory asks: “Who, what, whence are you? Or who set you about carrying a corpse, and locked you in the hateful chains of life, always locked down to earth? How have you mingled spirit and fat, the flesh with the mind, what is weightless with a burden? For these things fight in mutual opposition.”21 Like anyone who analyses logically, Gregory thinks of two possibilities for the origin of the soul (probably having in mind that, if he determines its origin, that might help in determining its nature): from God or from evil. He studies every possibility but does not come up with a definite answer, as if wanting to still think of the issue, but also to engage the reader in such reflection. Another interesting aspect in Gregory’s analysis of the soul and his identity is where he compares himself with others, with another person who might happen to be the reader. Even if he uses the words “you” and “yourself,” he might still be referring to the soul who is his main interlocutor in the poem, the context of the speech interpolates the reader and makes one think that he is referring to another person. “What I am more than yourself?” Gregory asks.22 In other words, the issue of one’s identity must also be addressed from this perspective since there is something common in ourselves (what would that and its nature be?), but also something different (and that should also be part of the investigation). The relation “I–you” brings the issue into a more complex context and is not fully explored here by Gregory; it is only announced.

20

Ibid. Ibid., 134. 22 Ibid., 133. 21

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Moral Formation In a short but interesting poem, “To His Own Soul,” Gregory of Nazianzus indicates how self-assessment leads to moral formation. This is like if you realize who you are, a kind of “know thyself,” then you will know what to do or how to conduct your life. In this poem he is talking, like in many other instances, to his soul, telling the soul repeatedly that it has a job to do. The first duty of the soul is to examine itself, Gregory writes, echoing Socrates’s belief that a life unexamined is not worth living. The exhortation or the charge for the soul here is as follows: “examine yourself, what it is you are, and how you act, where you come from, and where you are going to end.” Self-examination is part of discovering one’s identity, but how one acts is part of one’s morality; also, if you know where you come from and where you go to, meaning your destination, you know how to progress towards the target which makes you own your destiny, at least in part, which is again part of one’s morality. In addition, in order for him to better understand what he has to do, Gregory discloses that he needs to understand the world he lives in, and he makes the soul responsible for teaching him the mysteries of the universe and God. This is how he talks to his soul: “Make me know God and God’s mysteries, what was there before this universe, and why is this universe here for you? Where has it come from and where is it going?”23 anticipating, in a way, a later question raised by Leibnitz: Why is there something rather than nothing? These cosmological questions indicate a desire to know your environment in order to better place yourself in it, in order to make it a tool for your progress. This is like I need to know what the world is in order to adopt the right position coram mundo. And again, echoing the empiric philosophers of old who were preoccupied with the nature of the changing and unchanging, Gregory asks the soul to teach him why some things are permanent while others flow away, and how can permanence and change be understood as structuring our changing life.

23

Ibid., 170.

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And even more than that, he wants the soul to tell him nothing else but how God guides and turns the universe! Finally, another statement that links self-assessment with moral formation is the one that relates Gregory’s theological assumption about man’s former glory (of the state before the fall) and the degeneration into the present arrogance, as he puts it. In fact, Gregory wants to know everything! And he places all that responsibility on the soul, even threatening it: “This is the job that you have to do, soul: least you suffer in deep trouble.” Evidently Gregory is a creative, imaginative and courageous theologian. The moral dilemma of knowing where you come from (the former glory) and realizing that you don’t live currently according to the level of your belonging brings Gregory into serious trouble. In his poem “Lament to Christ” he declares: “I am torn between life and death. In the one lies my sin, in the other looms the Judgment.”24 The author is aware that wrong moral choices (committing sin) make life miserable, first of all because they create bad conscience, then because of the consequences they have even in the present life; yet even more, they have implications for the life eternal, which is why Gregory fears the last judgement (this fear torments him in this life) and is aware of the possibility of rejection then, of course with eternal tragic consequences. That is why in the poem “A Comparison of Lives” he draws one’s attention that “sin is an estrangement from God,”25 implying that one’s sound and only moral choice is to stay away from sin. In his poems in general, Gregory mentions a number of sins, such as arrogance, idolatry, murder, adultery, lie, perjury and stealing, explaining how they lead to the disfiguration of the soul; yet at the same time he lists numerous moral values, such as faith, humility and charity, all crowned by purity, chastity or virginity, which he calls “deiform virginity” that seems to be the top of the pyramid. In his long poem “In Praise of Virginity,” the Theologian creates a sort of argument between personified Marriage and Virginity, each one speaking to defend itself, and its value and advantages 24 Saint Gregory of Nazianzen: Selected Poems, translated and with an introduction by John A. McGuckin (Convent of the Incarnation, Fairacres, Oxford: SLG Press, 1995), 16. 25 On God and Man, 126.

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in life; however, Virginity appears to be far superior to Marriage in the discourse of the poem. While always emphasizing the superiority of the spirit over matter, as if speaking from Plato’s philosophy but biblical too, Gregory writes in a poem (“Conversation with the World”), almost surprisingly, that “matter is here for the sake of the salvation of the good,”26 which means, after all, that matter is not evil and has its own role in the process of salvation. Yet one may ask the question: if the good is good, why is it in need of salvation? Again, this kind of thinking might reflect some Platonic influences here. Plato spoke about the total separation between body and soul, based on their radical difference in nature. Yet, matter is necessary for the progress of the good (soul). That reflects, interestingly, the Christian doctrine according to which, through the original fall, the image of God in man was not destroyed, not lost, but only darkened, otherwise it could not be subject to any initiative and act of salvation. In a similar way, but contextually different, while matter is inferior to the soul in Plato’s philosophy, it is still necessary for the soul’s progression towards its initial belonging. If matter were completely useless, one might think that Plato’s philosophy was suicidal, in the sense that it would encourage suicide. If the soul is in the body like a prisoner in jail, then the soul might seem to be encouraged to kill the body in order to free itself and be able to go where it belongs. Yet that is not the case in Plato’s teaching. The soul still needs the material body, and this is what Gregory is telling us here. In his writings, Gregory treats the world very carefully. In one poem (“On the Precariousness of Human Nature”) he personifies the world and begins a conversation with it.27 He starts with the regular formula used in written conversations: “Dear world,” but is quick to add “though not so very dear,” in order to indicate the difference between the worldly life and the spiritual life, as if accessing the scrupulosity of conscience, and not wanting to be responsible for creating a fundamental confusion in the reader’s mind. On the one hand, he says, “Dear World,” while on the other he speaks in

26 27

Ibid., 129. Ibid., 130.

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such critical terms about it, contrary to how he speaks about the spiritual life. It is clear that spiritual life is what one needs to look for in life. This is what makes one’s soul “harmonize with the noumena” (“A Comparison of Lives”),28 he explains philosophically. To lead a spiritual life takes courage, sacrifice and heroism. This heroism is to be found in the life of the poor and not the rich who have everything. In the same poem he writes that “those who live in poverty are a good deal healthier” than others, implying that abundance of material choices, like food, leads to excess and then the deterioration of health. It is easier to go through life when you don’t expect to have everything, to master everything: “he who always masters cannot stand to be mastered,” he writes in the same poem,29 meaning that if you are used to being the master, when the situation comes where circumstances master you, you will not be able to survive. One becomes stronger and better prepared for life when one knows how to accept pain and defeat. Poverty, modesty and spiritual strength lead to what Gregory beautifully calls the “noetic city,” referring to the Kingdom of God.30 For Gregory, poverty is an ethical choice. It means security in the sense that you don’t live with the fear of losing what you have. A very nice way to show the difference between the poor’s connection to God and the one of the rich person is found in verses where he explains that, for the worldly person, God is God if He gives him what he asks of God, yet for the spiritual person God is God even if He gives the person the opposite of what was asked (“A Comparison of Lives”). The poet is convinced that he belongs to God – “From the beginning I belong to Someone else,” he declares31 – and this is a very important statement about both who he is and how he needs to live, because the one you belong to gives you the rule of life that you have to follow. You are

28

Ibid., 123. Ibid., 127. 30 Ibid., 121. 31 Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, textes choisis et présentés par Edmond Devolder dans la traduction de Paul Gallay (Namur, Belgique: les Editions du Soleil Levant, 1960), 33. 29

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growing in the direction of the one whose rules you are observing. You become thus the likeness of that one. And as if putting theory into practice, in order to make sure that he does grow in the right direction in the midst of all life’s miseries and instabilities, Gregory, in the poem “On His Trials” (“Sur ses épreuves”), asks for Christ’s help, indicating that he needs a guide to help make sure he does not go astray.32 In terms of moral formation, according to Gregory of Nazianzus, this has to take place on the firm ground of one’s faith in God. The highest values on which one establishes one’s life are the religious ones because they imply not only what man can do for himself, but also what he cannot do by himself but nevertheless hopes for. In the poem “On the Cheapness of the Outward Man,” he says it clearly: “For humans there is but one thing safe and sound: heavenly hopes.”33 In other words the right type of morality in which one needs to grow is the theological one. Man needs to stick to the spiritual way. He needs to be able to compare and choose, like in the case where God tells Israel in the Old Testament: “I have placed before you life and death … chose life so you can live” (Deut. 30, 19). Thus, the life one has to choose is the life in God, not life the way we experience it in this world. Gregory is very logical and systematic in his discourse about what man needs to choose and why. He contrasts the instability of life on earth with the stability of one’s life in God. By contrasting the two, the need to choose life in God appears simply imperative. This is how he describes this life in his poem “On the Different Walks of Life”: Everything here is trouble for us mortals. All is laughter, powder, shadows, illusions, dew, a breath, a wing, a puff, a dream, a wave’s heave, a river’s flow, a schooner’s trail, a breeze, fine dust, a still-rolling circle, turning all alike, the slow, the swift, the failures, the successful, for hours, days, nights, with pains, deaths, sufferings and pleasures, in illnesses, mishaps, triumphs.

32 Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, Oeuvres Poétiques, Poèmes personnels, II, 1, 1–11, text établi par André Tuilier et Guillaume Bady, traduction et notes par Jean Bernardi (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2004), 4. 33 On God and Man, 142.

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The Poetry of Gregory of Nazianzus: Self-assessment and Moral Formation And this, Creator Word, is of your wisdom, that instability should be in everything, so we might have a love for what is stable.34

The Theologian has the constant tendency to blame the body and its senses for the many mistakes one makes in life. In order to be even more convincing in his message, Gregory adopts the tone of the wise man of Ecclesiastes, telling us that he has seen and analysed everything, and consequently his conclusion must be credible: “I have surveyed everything on wings of mind, both ancient and new, and nothing is as feeble as us humans,” he writes, like another great man, Avicenna, later said: “From dust to the starry sky I have known the mystery of the entire universe; I have solved many difficult problems; the only one I cannot solve is the mystery of death.” Gregory’s solution then is the cross: to live here bearing the cross, as if everything is a cross that we must accept, making sure yet that our mind is always intended on things divine.35 In other words, one’s morality comes from one’s highest values. This is like saying: tell me what your values are and I will tell you what you will do. For Gregory it is worth living here, bearing every burden, because what we have in view is not this world but the next one. We exchange world for world, he writes.36 In other words, we need to be aware that we live sub specie aeternitatis.

Conclusion It is interesting and important to see that Gregory shows flexibility when it comes to how one lives one’s life in God; he states that there are many ways in which one can be a good Christian, as one reads in the poem “Blessings of Various Lives.” Yet he does come with a general kind of rule that, of course, can be applied according to the case, and this is as follows: “To conquer excess, to live under Christ’s strong hand, and to tremble at the prospect of the approaching day. And if you travel perfectly this high road, no longer are you mortal, but one of the heavenly host.” 34

Ibid., 146. Ibid. 36 Ibid. 35

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However, the final conclusion of the analysis of the parallel between these two types of lives built on the understanding of one’s identity comes with a conciliatory note: both are necessary, yet the spiritual life should have priority. If one respects this hierarchy, one will be able to live in harmony with both God and one’s own conscience. And then he writes with a kind of rhetorical pride: “These are the laws of Gregory”!37

37

Ibid., 149.

POETRY AS WITNESS. GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS’S THREE SPECIAL VOCATIONS: THEOLOGY, MYSTICISM AND POETRY Introduction Gregory of Nazianzus, one of the giants of the early Christian Church, was a cornerstone of the growth of Christianity, as he was a very complex personality, very well educated, with an inquisitive mind and an inclination towards solitude and poetry. All dimensions of his life and all his skills, whether directly religious or not, were put in the service of the Christian Church, as he also “baptized” the lay culture and philosophy and made them serve the Church that he loved so much. With his love for intellectual education, Gregory studied in Caesarea in Cappadocia, Caesarea in Palestine, Alexandria and Athens – famous places for learning, where, under brilliant teachers both Christian and pagan, he acquired expertise in rhetoric, literature, philosophy and theology. These opportunities were God’s gifts to him. And as he was aware of that, he knew what to do with what he had received: give them back to God in using them all for God’s glory.

Gregory the Theologian Gregory of Nazianzus is one of only three Church personalities in the history of Christianity to be given the name “The Theologian.” Christ’s disciple, John, who wrote one of the four gospels, was called “The Theologian,” then Gregory, and later Symeon the New Theologian (in the tenth century). He was the most respected orator of his time, and also a renowned theologian and philosopher. As John McGuckin writes, “Gregory was, without question, the greatest stylist of the patristic age. He dominated

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Byzantium and its schools for centuries as the model of Christian rhetoric and philosophy,”1 and, one can add, of theology. Gregory wrote many discourses and sermons while serving in the Church of Nazianzus. Yet after his arrival in Constantinople he devoted all his energy to the defence of the Orthodox doctrine against heresy. It was in this capital city that he delivered the five famous theological discourses on the oneness and trinity of God that earned him the name “Theologos,” “The Theologian.” When he became Patriarch, he put the same passion and intellectual capacity in the formulation of the Christian doctrine as he was president of the Second Ecumenical Council in 381, which dealt with pneumatological issues. Gregory was a leading and competent voice when it came to the formulation of the Orthodox Christian doctrine, in particular and with great emphasis in the field of the Trinitarian theology, then of Christology and Pneumatology. His main preoccupation in elaborating on the Christian doctrine was to fight the heresies of the time: Arianism and Apollinarianism (in the field of Christology and, implicitly, that of the Trinity) and Macedonianism or Pneumatomachianism (in the field of Pneumatology, and again, implicitly, that of the Trinitarian theology). His five famous theological orations or discourses explained the nature of the divine Trinity according to the Nicene doctrine, against the heretical teaching of Eunomius, a leading theologian in Constantinople. “These are the quintessence of his theological work and the most important texts in Christian history for establishing the cardinal doctrine of the Trinity,” John McGuckin wrote.2 What Gregory did so well in prose discourse when it came to explaining the Nicene doctrine of the Church, he did just as well in his poetry. As a general note, all of his poetry, including the autobiographical examples, is full of theological references: yet the theology of the Church, the way he elaborated it against heresies, is in verse form in his dogmatic poems. In this poetry he deals with both aspects of God’s life and activity: the immanent Trinity (“Deus ad intra”) and the economic Trinity (“Deus ad extra”). 1

John A. McGuckin, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus: An Intellectual Biography (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001), xxi. 2 Ibid., 264.

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Here is an example of how Gregory put some of the aspects of the Trinitarian doctrine in verse, in particular when it comes to the relation between the Father and the Son. There is one God, without beginning or cause, not limited by anything existing before, or afterwards to be, encompassing the eons, and infinite: the noble, great, only-begotten Son’s great Father: who had, in the Son, no suffering of anything fleshly, since he is mind. One other is God, not other in Godhead, God’s Word, who is his living paternal seal, the sole Son of Him who has no origin, and most Unique from the Unique, equal in might, so that, while the one remains the whole parent, the son, is world-maker, lawgiver, the Father’s strength and intellect. (“On the Father”)3

In the poem “On the Holy Spirit,” Gregory elaborates on the Spirit’s intra-Trinitarian and economic life: Let us quake before the great Spirit, who is my God, who made me know God, who is God there above, and who forms God here: almighty, imparting manifold gifts, him whom the holy choir hymns, who brings life to those in heaven and on earth and is enthroned on high, coming from the Father, the divine force, self-commandeered; he is not a child (for there is one worthy Child of the One who’s best), nor is he outside the unseen Godhead, but of identical honor.4

About the unity of the three hypostases in the divine Trinity, Gregory writes in the same poem: I charge you so you understand this, by words of wisdom’s untold depths: that it refers to the unoriginate root, it doesn’t split the Godhead, so that you have got one sole power, not worshipped severally. From unity is the Trinity, and from Trinity again the unity: not as a source, a spring, a mighty river, sharing a single current, in three separate manners traverse the earth; nor as a torch, taken from a pyre, converges again in one; nor like a word, both going out from the mind and remaining in it; nor like some shimmering of 3 On God and Man: The Theological Poetry of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, translated and introduced by Peter Gilbert (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001), 38. 4 On God and Man, 43.

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dancing sunbeams off the waters, a restless gleaming, wavering on the walls approaching, then fleeing, fleeing, then drawing near. For God’s nature is not restless, nor flowing, nor again coalescing; but what is God’s is steadfast … In threefold lights the one nature is established, not a numberless unity, since it subsists in three excellences, nor a Threesome worshipped severally, since the nature is inseparable. In the Godhead is the unity, but they whose Godhead it is are three in number. Each is one God, if you should talk of them singly.5

Gregory’s clear and systematic mind, his deep knowledge in culture in general and philosophy in particular, and his oratorical skills greatly contributed to the formulation of the Christian doctrine in a crucial century much troubled by politics and heresy. The reiteration of his theological elaboration from prose into poetry consolidated Gregory’s unparalleled authority in these matters of faith. He proved to be the providential man that lived in the right place and the right time in the benefit of the Church.

Gregory the Mystic According to Jean Bernardi, Gregory of Nazianzus actually had a double vocation: one intellectual and academic, and another, a higher one, to which he sacrificed the first, the philosophical vocation, which in Gregory’s understanding was compatible and complementary with the mystical dimension of his personality that implied love of solitude, silence, contemplation and prayer.6 However, there were times when Gregory himself struggled with dilemmas about his own vocation. He felt strongly attracted to philosophy, academia and culture, in the lay sense of the term, but at the same time to the monastic life. In such moments he believed there was competition between the two types of life, the academic one being in opposition to the contemplative. In such cases he reproached himself for the successes he had in the academic field (rhetoric and poetry) with a sense of guilt that these

5

Ibid., 45–6. Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, Oeuvres Poétiques, Poèmes personnels, II, 1, 1–11, text établi par André Tuilier et Guillaume Bady, traduction et notes par Jean Bernardi (Paris: Ed. Les Belles Lettres, 2004), lii.

6

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preoccupations took him away from the monastic vocation,7 even if success in one direction did not necessarily mean an incompatibility with monasticism. He lived constantly with the conscience of his belonging to God based on his mother’s telling him, probably repeatedly, in his childhood about how much she wanted a son and her promise to consecrate him to God if she had one. Gregory speaks of his mother’s promising him to God in several places, including in his poetry (“Sur sa vie”).8 In his autobiographical poem, the longest one of all, he testifies straightforwardly: “From the beginning I belong to somebody else.”9 That conscience of belonging to God is also explained by Gregory circumstantially. In other words, he tells the reader about the piety of his parents and the powerful role models they were for him, and the religious education he received in the family, including reading religious books and being surrounded by people leading a holy life. All those circumstances contributed to his passion for following the good, the truth and the beautiful with fervour, for the cause of God. While believing that he was not called for a sacerdotal life, Gregory was convinced that his vocation was for contemplation. He wanted to be a monk, not a priest. Solitude was the place where he felt comfortable. Gregory’s vocation for asceticism was of a particular kind; Gregory’s kind. While he liked solitude, he didn’t like the radical hardship that characterized the monastic life of other famous ascetics, such as many in the deserts of Sketes in Egypt or those of Palestine. Even his friend Basil was more radical than Gregory in ascetic endeavours. As John McGuckin points out, “it would be easy to dismiss Gregory’s objections [to Basil’s ascetic lifestyle] as merely the refusal of an aristocrat to adopt poverty. It would also be easy to dismiss his incipient theories of monastic life (with mother and family near at hand, and safely under the shelter of an aristocratic establishment) as rather weak-kneed dilettantism.”10 Gregory’s

7

Ibid., 35. Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, textes choisis et présentés par Edmond Devolder dans la traduction de Paul Gallay (Namur, Belgique: les Editions du Soleil Levant, 1960), 32–3; 37. 9 Ibid., 33. 10 McGuckin, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, 94. 8

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nature was more moderate and his monastic vocation led him towards simplicity of lifestyle rather than the performance of hardships. “What Gregory saw as the whole purpose and justification of the solitary life was that it afforded time for the highest level of reflection, speculation, prayer and reading. It was this he wanted to do, not dig irrigation systems or cultivate turnips, or even direct recalcitrant congregations.”11 In his poem “Blessings of Various Lives,” Gregory is clear on the purpose of asceticism: it is to direct the whole heart to God and divinize the mind: “Blessed is he, whoever leads a solitary life, not at all mixing with worldly folk, but has divinized the mind. Blessed is he who, dwelling amidst many people, does not turn towards the many, but directs his whole heart to God.”12 In other words, one can live a solitary life even surrounded by people for as long as one knows how to concentrate wholly and specifically on such things as the exercise of heart and mind in a total dedication to God. After 362, Gregory sought the relief of the “ascetically inclined estates” of his friend Basil, when he was tired of the administrative duties in the Church of Nazianzus. Yet when Basil tried to engage him in the daily work of the monastery, Gregory, with his constant penchant towards theoria, contemplation and inner intellectual and spiritual growth in reflective solitude, as John McGuckin puts it, left the place for a better one.13 As a final confirmation of his monastic vocation, Gregory, in 384, after several interventions on the civil and religious life of the city of Nazianzus, for the last years of his life went into retirement to live in seclusion in Arianzus, more specifically in Karvali, west of Arianzus.14 Gregory of Nazianzus was aware that the ascetic ideal is not for everyone, and, even in the case of those who feel its vocation, it is lived differently. Yet the point is to apply some ascetic exercises in order to balance possible excesses in the daily life with the clear conscience that one lives under Christ’s direction. This is what he calls “the high road,” which basically changes your existential condition here. This is how he puts it: 11

Ibid., 95. On God and Man, 147. 13 McGuckin, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, 93. 14 Stelianos Papadopoulos, Vulturul ranit: Viata Sfantului Grigore Teologul [The Wounded Eagle: The Life of Saint Gregory the Theologian], translation from Greek into Romanian by Constantin Coman and Cornel Coman (Bucureúti: Editura Bizantina, 2002), 282–5. 12

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“There is not one common food that pleases all alike; neither is there but one way of life appropriate to Christians. For everyone, tears are best, and vigils and labors, to hold in check the raging of grievous passions, to conquer excess, to lie under Christ’s strong hand, and to tremble at the prospect of the approaching day. And if you travel perfectly this high road, no longer are you mortal, but one of the heavenly host” (“Blessings of Various Lives”).15

Gregory the Poet Gregory of Nazianzus was one of the most prolific poets of his time. As a theologian and ascetic, he was not the only one who wrote poetry – Ephrem the Syrian, Paulin of Nola and Sinesius of Cyrene also did so. When it comes to religion, many in that time wrote the Christian doctrine in verses both heretics and Orthodox in order to have the teachings memorized and spread around more easily. In fact, in Gregory’s case, this was one of the reasons to write poetry, and in particular poems with doctrinal content, in order to respond in the same manner to other Christological heresies, in particular the heresy of Apollinarianism that, opposite to Arianism, held that the second person of the Trinity was directly united to the body of Jesus Christ. Consequently this body was not really human; it came from above and thus had a celestial and impassible nature, which also could not suffer in reality.16 This heresy was also spread in verse form by its author.17 Gregory’s poetry was of transcendental inspiration, Pierre Gallay writes. His poetry was not at all in any way inferior to the pagan poetry of the time. What characterized it was variety, sincerity and naturality.18 Indeed, as far as Gregory’s poetical inspiration is concerned, it is evident that his strong Christian faith shaped and gave content to every poem. As he knew and testified that he belonged to God, he made that visible in his 15

On God and Man, 149. Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 50, note 55. 17 Apollinaris the Younger was bishop of Laodicea (310–90) in Syria. He tried to explain the nature of Christ’s person. Man is constituted by body, soul and mind. In Christ’s case, the Logos assumed only the body and the soul as the human constitution. The mind was replaced by the Logos itself. 18 Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 27. 16

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writing. His poetry communicates to the reader the author’s intuition about the Absolute, his tendency for the union/communion with the divine. Yet that tendency also indicates a dramatic split, a fall from the good standing of man coram Deo, before God, and indeed the fallen condition of man is vividly expressed by Gregory in particular in passages where he describes himself as a sinner. Just for one example, in the poem “On the Weakness of Human Nature” he talks about “my faults that will never disappear; they last and this is what is most awkward in life.”19 On this occasion the poet also realizes that it is only in this life that one can, with faith and God’s grace, wash away sin: “if I die there is no more remedy for my past miseries.”20 This tendency for communion is characterized by a creative tension between the present place and the primordial place, between real and ideal as felt by the poet. The tension is dynamic in nature and it implies pain, hope and exaltation, and these features become in themselves sources of inspiration. This is the fundamental content of the metaphysical dimension of poetry, whether it is conscientized or not by the poet, and regardless of how the poet understands it (when he or she does): as inspiration, as grace, as a given, as intuition, etc.21 According to Ion Biberi, there is an analogy between the spiritual attitude of the poet and that of the mystic: every time the mystic tries to express their inner states they use the means characteristic to poetry; but one also realizes that the poet uses the means of the mystic since it is mysticism that generates poetry, and not the other way around. There are also differences between the two: while mysticism deals with silence, poetry deals with the word.22 This is all true in the case of Gregory’s poetry and life, as he amazingly embodied both the mystic and the poet in everyday dealings and in all his writings. And even where there seems to be a difference between mysticism and poetry, as mentioned above, since mysticism is concerned with silence and 19

Ibid., 82. Ibid. 21 Theodor Damian, Filosofie úi literatură. O hermeneutică a provocării metafizice [Philosophy and Literature: A Hermeneutics of the Metaphysical Challenge], (Bucureúti: FundaĠia România de Mâine, 2008), 22. 22 Ion Biberi, Poezia, mod de existenаă [Poetry, Way of Existing] (Bucuresti: Editura pentru literatura, 1968), 140–1. 20

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poetry with words, even there this difference is only superficial because in fact the silence of the mystic can be found in the depth of the poetical word, so there is a marriage between word and silence and not a separation. The poetical word that tries to communicate the poet’s intuition of the Absolute is a word generated by the silence in which the Absolute abides. As the great fourteenth-century mystic Meister Eckhart wrote: God is a Word at the extremity of silence. Gregory is in perfect agreement with this description as evident in the combination of apophatic and cataphatic discourse when it comes to theological poems, and in particular those on God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.23 For example, when he talks apophatically about the Father: “There is one God, without beginning or cause, not limited by anything existing before or afterwards to be, encompassing the eons and infinite” (“On the Father”); about the Son: “He who has sprung from the Father is the great God’s Word: eternal son, the archetype’s image, a nature equal to his parent. For the Son so great is the Father’s glory, and from him he shone forth as only the Father and he that shone forth from the Father understand” (“On the Son”); about the Holy Spirit: “Almighty, imparting manifold gifts, him whom the holy choir hymns” (“On the Holy Spirit”);24 but also when he talks cataphatically about the Father: “From his own spirit he gives life to all that lives,” he is “the great king, the good father” (“Glory to the Father”);25 and about the Son: “The Son is world-maker, lawgiver, the Father’s strength and intellect” (“On the Father”),26 and about the Holy Spirit: “Now to them he gave small illumination … even distributing himself to us later in tongues of fire” (“On the Holy Spirit”).27

Conclusion As one can see, the three vocations of Gregory were not separated from one another but intertwined. His theology is elaborated in both prose and poetry, 23

On God and Man, 37–47. All in ibid. 25 Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, iranslated and with an introduction by John McGuckin (Convent of the Incarnation, Fairacres, Oxford: SLG Press, 1995), 10. 26 On God and Man. 27 Ibid. 24

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his mystical inclinations offered the fundamental ground for theological reflection and poetical expression, and his poetry was like a crown of endeavours. If Gregory of Nazianzus had only written poetry without having administrative positions in the Church or producing any theological treatise, by this alone he would have deserved the name “the Theologian” and the fame he acquired for his life and activity, so rich is his poetry in theological elaboration in fighting the heresies of the time, in subtlety of thinking, in poetical art, in quality and quantity, in the skill of combining in it his three main vocations and passions: theology, mysticism and poetry. Through each he opened a new way in these fields, just as the Japanese proverb states: “Before me there was no road; after me, there will be one.”

MAN’S DEIFICATION IN THE POETICAL VISION OF GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS St. Gregory’s Personality Even if one put aside Gregory’s theological discourses and other works and his significant contribution to the fight against the heresies of his time and the crystallization of the Christian doctrine, and even if one ignored his entire activity in the administration of the Church and considered only his poetry, the Bishop of Nazianzus and Patriarch of Constantinople would still remain as one of the classics and luminaries of literature in general, and Christian literature and philosophy in particular. He was a lover of wisdom who reflected constantly on the human existence and condition in order to find the best way to travel life’s path in accordance with one’s highest understanding of human destiny and destination. Being of a meditative nature, Gregory loved solitude when he took extensive time to talk to himself and engage in conversation with God. His poetry – extremely elaborated compared with the poetic production of his time, and unjustly given less attention than it deserves – illustrates his struggles, both philosophical and theological, as well as the greatness of his critical-thinking abilities and his more human inquietude and humour.

Who Am I? This question, which appears frequently in his poetry, is asked by Gregory not just in order to understand himself as one wants to about all other things, and not just to raise his self-esteem at the idea that he found an appropriate definition for a complex reality, but to be able to harmonize being with doing, or being with becoming, since doing and becoming (by doing) are man’s responsibilities and contributions in life, just as being is God’s contribution.

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“Who was I? Who am I? Who will I be?” the philosopher is asking, but at the same time he confesses Socratically that he doesn’t know clearly.1 And not only that he doesn’t know, but more confusion is added when he notices the instability of his actions, and more particularly the distance between what he has and what he wants to have.2 Apparently, he does not know who he is but at least knows what he has and wants to have, even though Gregory can be, contrary to expectations from a theologian, very nihilistic, as in those instances where, overwhelmed with scepticism, he declares: “I am nothing.”3 However, this scepticism is not a general characteristic of the bishop’s philosophical thinking. It is rather part of the struggle with the question. In other instances, in the poem “On the Human Nature,” Gregory suggests that being is like a miracle that he suddenly discovers and that challenges him: “I am. Think: what does this mean?” he acclaims in wonder and in a quasicartesian manner, in order to come up with a Heraclitan response with nihilistic accents: “Nothing is sure I am, indeed, a troubled river’s current.”4 The type of struggle we are witnessing is, in fact, a reflection of the Theologian’s existential dilemma. He is torn between life and death. Is it better to pray for life? In that case, there is a perspective of more sins. Should he pray for death? In that option looms the judgement, as he puts it in “Lament to Christ.”5 To opt for death implies the inability of doing something to compensate for past offences against God.6 It is very interesting to note that while having such struggles and dilemmas and problems with being and becoming, and life in general, St.

1 On God and Man: The Theological Poetry of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, translated and introduced by Peter Gilbert (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001), 132. 2 Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, textes choisis et présentés par Edmond Devolder dans la traduction de Paul Gallay (Namur, Belgique: Les éditions du Soleil Levant, 1960), 76. 3 On God and Man, 133. 4 Ibid. 5 Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, translated and with an introduction by John McGuckin (Convent of the Incarnation, Fairacres, Oxford: SLG Press, 1995), 16. 6 Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 82.

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Gregory does not fall into despair or adopt a nihilistic point of view as his ultimate response and position. On the contrary, as we see in his poems “Meditation on the Christian Doctrine” and “Weakness of the Human Nature,” he is in the final analysis optimistic and demonstrates a healthy inner stability. In other words, his nihilistic scepticism is only a working tool in a major enterprise, expressed only rhetorically and strategically in order to be able to stress even more what seems to be his final conclusion, which consists of a declaration of love for this life and for that beyond: “That is why I love this life because of the dust [in me], and I have in my heart the desire for the other life because of the divine part in me,”7 he says, referring to being created by God and having a promise from God for the other life as well. Here the philosopher turns theologian, and a very devoted one, when he believes that no matter who you are, and what you know of who you are, you need to trust God and look towards His goodness.8 One can believe that there is a contradiction here in Gregory’s attitude: on the one hand he struggles with issues of life and being, and on the other he finds a very simple solution – that of trusting God. I do not think that trusting God and believing in Him is inconsistent with and antagonistic to asking questions and thinking critically, analysing, trying to understand and make sense as much as possible. In fact, by asking questions and struggling hard with them, one can give oneself another chance to discover God since all ways lead to God anyway. That is what he says beautifully in his poem “On the Human Nature,” where he seems to turn back from his apparent scepticism and give us a strong reason to believe in God and His plans for us now and in the life to come: “Stop! Everything is secondary to God. Give in to reason. God did not make me in vain.”9

Reasons for a Theology of Deification Deification is the ultimate goal God had in view when He created us. That is to be like God, not by nature but by grace, to share in the divine condition,

7

Ibid., 73. Ibid., 82. 9 On God and Man, 136. 8

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to be in communion with God, to share His glory while praising him and giving Him glory like the angels, incessantly. God created us in His image but with the possibility to become in His likeness, that is to reach the state of holiness and immortality: posse non mori. The fact that God did not create us in vain, as Gregory wrote, suggests a very simple and logical reason for deification, which is at the same time solid ground for our hope in that direction. On the other hand, when Gregory affirms in “Hymn to God” that “all things run endlessly to God who is the end of them all,”10 he is offering another natural reason to believe in the possibility of man’s deification. In fact, God looks upon all things11 because he is the Seer, as the term “God” indicates in Greek. He sees everything, knows everything and has power over everything. In “Meditation on the Christian Doctrine,” like Pico della Mirandola in his Oratio de Hominis Dignitate,12 Gregory of Nazianzus gives us another reason in favour of deification by speaking of how God created us as a race that includes mortals and immortals, with an intermediary intelligence, enjoying the divine works and being initiated in heavenly things, being like angels but taken from dust and praising God’s might and intelligence.13 There are two elements in this mini discourse that indicate deification and represent reasons for such a doctrine. First is the idea that we are initiated in the heavenly things. We have not reached fulfilment but initiation points to it. The second is the idea of praising God’s might and intelligence or greatness. This indicates the doxological condition to which man is called, which, according to Gregory’s theology, represents the deified state of being in God’s Kingdom. As we are only initiated in the divine things while living this life here, we praise God’s greatness in this life before doing it fully in God’s Kingdom.

10

Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, 7. Ibid., 7. 12 Pico della Mirandola, Oration on the Dignity of Man (Chicago: Gateway Edition, Henry Regnery, 1956), 7–8. 13 Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 72. 11

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Salvation, in the eschatological sense, and deification cannot be separated from each other. To be saved in Jesus Christ is to be in the Kingdom of God, in His communion, to be deified. In order to be saved in and by Jesus Christ one has to belong to Christ. That is why St. Gregory makes of belonging to Christ and to God another reason and grounds for deification, all the more since deification is both what man desires and what God and Christ desire. “I am Yours, o Christ; then save me as it is Your heart’s desire to do,” the poet exclaims,14 just as, in more general terms, he draws our attention to: “from the beginning I belong to Someone Else.”15 It is based on this sense of belonging that man longs for release from this world16 and strives to attain “that distant life,” as Gregory calls the life eternal, but not after having fought here to the end and having won the athlete’s crown to which St. Paul refers; in other words, not after having passed all the struggles of this life while always remaining totally dedicated to God.17 In fact, all the trials of this existence, if it was devoted to God, amount to a cross that one bears while leaving this condition and “exchanging world for world,” as Gregory puts it.18 And even the trials that indicate imperfection also indicate perfection, just like instability indicates stability in another place; thus, stability and perfection become object of desire and love, grounds for striving to reach higher and an appreciation of God’s economy of salvation, of His providence and love for us.19

Imago Dei The most powerful reason yet on which the doctrine of deification is built in Gregory’s poetry is man’s creation in the image of God. It is Imago Dei that holds man in being, even though that implies a paradox, that of the spiritualization of dirt which shows a radical change into the nature of the 14

Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, 15. Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 33. 16 Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, 15. 17 Ibid., 16. 18 On God and Man, 146. 19 Ibid., 146. 15

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created order. “The dirt is made spiritual by the divine image,” we read in the poem “Concerning Human Life.”20 The image of God, according to Gregory, is all that counts in life. “Nothing is of any use to me,”21 declares the saint. The Imago Dei is the source and grounds for any hope and miracle. Not only that it changed the nature of dirt, but that it can change the nature of man as a being the way we are here and now. Man’s deification is rooted in the gift of the divine image to us. God might “perfect me as God by His human image,”22 that is by His divine image that was given to man, Gregory teaches. Nothing can break this gift in man. Sin only darkens the image; it does not annihilate it. The Platonic opposition between flesh and soul in man,23 to which the poet subscribes, cannot break it either. It cannot be broken even by death. Light is a metaphor at hand for deification in Gregory’s vision. God is light. The image of God in man is the icon placed “here, below, of the brightness that is above so that man may see the light by light and thus become entirely light,”24 we read in “An Evening Prayer” by Gregory. The doctrine of deification is related, in the context of the Imago Dei theology, to the idea of procession and return, found in Neoplatonic thought and Christian mystical theology. Everything that originates in God has a powerful natural tendency to go back to God. Being God’s great creature and image, Gregory writes, man proceeds from God and returns to God. Yet that process takes place under Christ’s merciful guidance.25

The Christological Aspect of Deification St. Gregory the Theologian takes very good care to make sure that he stresses well enough the capital role that Jesus Christ has in the process of man’s deification.

20

Ibid., 150. Ibid., 135. 22 Ibid. 23 Ibid., 159. 24 Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, 11. 25 On God and Man, 157. 21

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Against Apollinaris – who taught that Christ was not in reality fully man, that His body was not a real human body but a kind of heavenly body, impassible, which could not suffer in the real sense of the word – the Bishop of Nazianzus elaborates on the full humanity of the Word incarnate and explains that what has not been assumed by Christ has not been saved. Or, the Son of God came in order to save man fully, not partially; in both dimensions, physical and spiritual. For that reason, Christ must have assumed a real human body and real human spirit while remaining fully God.26 This is what perfect work means, and God works in this way because our salvation in Christ is our expression of God’s love,27 and that is not a partial love. By assuming a human body to help the suffering creatures, Jesus Christ did not lose anything from His divinity,28 and that is why He had the power to “wash all our passions away,” and all our sins, to cleanse the entire world,29 to free us “from the bonds of death” so that we might “once again attain a better life,”30 writes Gregory in “Lamentations Concerning the Sorrows of His Own Soul,” referring to the original condition in which man was created by God. In order to reach that state again, one has to live in total faithfulness to Christ, which is why the poet says it loudly: “I, who have clung to Christ, will never let go.”31 However, if one happens to fall from Christ’s way there is hope that one can get back there through effort and prayer: “Rekindle my light, o, Christ, and shine on me again,”32 he prays. The bishop knows that the way to the Kingdom of God, to deification, is difficult. It often requires Sisyphean efforts, and often implies falling and rising, but faith in Christ and hard work on man’s part gives one the chance to get back on the right way, just as we say in one of the prayers from the service of the Holy Unction: “Every time you fall, get up and you will be saved.”

26

Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 74–5. Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, 5. 28 Ibid., 4. 29 Ibid., 3–5. 30 On God and Man, 158. 31 Ibid., 143. 32 Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, 14. 27

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Man’s deification in Christ is expressed by Gregory aphoristically when he says that Jesus Christ offers us divinity in exchange for our mortality,33 a statement consistent with the well-known patristic adage: God became man so that man can become God, an idea particularly present in St. Athanasius’s theology.

Homo Capax Infinity Deification is understood by Gregory the Theologian as being the ultimate destiny of man,34 even though it starts here, as he emphasizes in the poem “Meditation on the Christian Doctrine”35 in order to show the paradox of the miracle it implies being fulfilled in eschaton, in the Kingdom of God when we will forever praise God. This ontic capacity of man to become light and live forever is a gift and a grace from God,36 according to St. Gregory. It is part of the divine likeness in which God created man, that posse non mori he received initially and lost through the fall, but which can be regained in Jesus Christ. Deification is not cheap grace, it is a great gift, but man must pray for it, as Gregory does,37 and he longs for it from the depth of his soul.38 He ardently asks God to give him a portion of the heavenly glory, and, in general, “a greater share of the things of heaven above.”39 This type of request, somehow similar to that of two of Christ’s disciples who wanted to be at the right and left-hand of Christ when in His glory, indicates partially what deification consists of: it is doxological existence in God’s Kingdom and communion.

Conclusion Gregory the Theologian was an extremely eloquent rhetorician with a sensitive nature. His tendency towards mystical experiences together with 33

Ibid., 6; Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 73. Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, 11. 35 Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 67, 73. 36 Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, 13. 37 Ibidem, p. 9, On God and Man, 169. 38 On God and Man, 144. 39 Ibid., 144, 169. 34

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the wealth of knowledge he acquired through a high-quality education, his critical-thinking ability and his philosophical inclinations helped him become one of the most redoubtable representatives of Christianity in his time, a divine gift to the Church and a powerful guide of God’s people in the footsteps of Christ. His poetry, a wonderful mirror of his personality both at the personal and professional levels, is a great source of inspiration for anyone who needs to learn the Christian doctrine, to gain strength in faith and to have a concrete example of how to struggle in daily life and fight the good fight.

DE HOMINIS DIGNITATE IN GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS’S POETRY Introduction Human dignity is related to a fundamental set of values established in a community that makes social life possible. Respect is one of these core values, and in order for it to function it has to be practised in mutuality, as the golden rule in Christian ethics requires: “Do unto others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6, 21). Human dignity is an entitlement that we have by virtue of our mere existence. However, to paraphrase A. Heschel, it is not the fact that we are human beings that is important and that confers dignity; rather it is being human that is important and brings about dignity.1 Entitlement can be understood in two different ways: first, you do something meritorious and somebody gives you a title or entitles you in some way; second, you inherit a title without having done great things necessarily. In St. Gregory of Nazianzus’s poetry, we find both kinds of entitlement to dignity. In the first case, in order to achieve progress towards the Kingdom of God, which implies a dignifying lifestyle, according to Gregory, one has to work hard to reach purification through the practice of virtue or, even better, through an ascetical life, and by following Christ. In the second case, as we are God’s children, the title of dignity was given to us when we were created in God’s image. Like the image, dignity is inherently in us yet diminished, and it is our job to work hard through a special Christian way of living in order to make it reach its original splendour. Therefore, human dignity is a gift for no merit from our part and is open for restoration in Christ, also for

1 Abraham Heschel, Who Is Man (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1965), 16–17.

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no merit of ours. However, moving that restoration from real possibility to immediate reality is where our effort is needed. Dignity can be looked at from three main points of view: the psychological one, meaning how you feel about yourself; the social one, which is related to how others treat you; and the theological one, which has to do with how you feel you stand before God, coram Deo, and in particular and most important, how God treats you. In his poetry, Gregory addresses each of these three aspects in different ways. Speaking of dignity, one has to distinguish between references to the subject related to Gregory’s own person and life and references to human dignity in general. In this chapter, I will start with examples of Gregory’s personal dignity followed by his understanding of human dignity in general, which will represent the theological dimension of the subject, and the third section will discuss man’s contribution to his dignity according to Gregory’s understanding.

St. Gregory’s Personal Dignity St. Gregory of Nazianzus enjoyed very high respect from those around him, including enemies, for the brilliant intellectual skills he displayed in daily life, and in particular his theological writings where he strongly defended the Nicene Orthodoxy against heretic teachings. After death he was honoured with the title “Theologian” that the Christian Church gave only to two other personalities in its entire history: John the Evangelist and St. Simeon, called the “New Theologian.” Gregory’s sense of personal dignity began with his birth to a very pious and noble family, continued with his education in the best schools of the time, Athens in particular, and his official position in Constantinople where he was elected Patriarch and President of the Second Ecumenical Council, and lasted until the end of his life when, old and sick, he found comfort in memories about dignifying moments in his life. His awareness of these privileges and his gifts and skills, the oratorical in particular, including his vast theological and secular knowledge, of which he speaks several times in his poetry, indicates his sense of personal dignity. This is very evident in his autobiographical poem where he describes his parents. He calls his father, Gregory the Elder, “a man of perfect honesty,

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whose life could be taken as a model.” “He was like a second patriarch Abraham possessing the highest virtue, far from having it just apparently, as such thing happens today,” Gregory feels the need to specify. Speaking of his mother, Nonna, he is full of admiration as well: “My mother,” he writes, “to say it all in one word, was the worthy companion of such a man … Coming from a pious family she was even more pious than all other family members; physically she was a woman, but by her character she was above men.”2 Gregory’s description of how he grew up in such a family also indicates his sense of dignity: Nourished from my earliest childhood by everything that is beautiful thanks to the excellent examples that I had at home, I started even then to take on some of the gravity of an old man, and little by little I felt that the ardor for what is best was growing in me as a cloud grows by incorporating in it other clouds.3

The education in Athens, where he was colleague and best friend with Basil the Great, was another phase where Gregory had a chance to conscientize his personal dignity. The two of them were in the top of every class they took and of every social circle they were in. Gregory puts it in an interesting way: “If I am allowed to talk big about myself a little bit, I would say that we didn’t pass unnoticed in Greece.” For example, speaking of his and Basil’s knowledge in the field of philosophy and of their place in philosophical circles, he admits: “We were of the first rank among those who knew the first of all things,” as he calls philosophy here. The best circumstance in which he saw how great a respect everybody had for him is when he decided to leave Greece together with Basil and go back to his home country. He recounts:

2

In the poem “Sur sa vie” [“On his Own Life”] in Saint Grégoire de Nazianz, Poèmes et Lettres, textes choisis et présentés par Edmond Devolder, dans la traduction de Paul Gallay, Les Editions du Soleil levant, Namur, Belgique, 1960, p. 32. 3 Ibid., p. 33.

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I wanted to come back to my country and choose a different type of life since I had consecrated a lot of time to my studies and I was almost 30 years old. This is when I understood how much our companions loved us and what opinions they had about us … Speaking for myself, I still feel tears in my eyes when I remember how troubled I was. All people surrounded me at once: strangers, friends, young people of my age, professors; and there were oaths and tears; they even turned to violence – because friendship would allow them to go even there – and retained me by live force. They protested telling me they would not let me go, no matter what, because such a glorious city as Athens could not lose me, as they were going to grant me the award for eloquence.4

“Here we were lions”5 he would later say about him and Basil in Athens. As he mentions, both were apparently famous in all of Greece. Also, as part of his dignity and glory in Athens, Gregory remembers how he demonstrated of his eloquence at the request of some people there who believed that it was his duty to do so. As he did it, he was intensely applauded and enthusiastically approved of.6 Another phase where Gregory’s sense of dignity came into play was related to his being ordained by Basil and his father as Bishop of Sasima. His vehement protests at how things happened indicate how much his dignity was hurt. Basil, who was already an archbishop and had many bishops under his direction, living in a troubled time for the Church when the Nicene Orthodox tradition competed with less Orthodox Christian factions, arranged with Gregory’s father to ordain Gregory as Bishop of Sasima. Two things hurt his pride and dignity in this episode. First was the realization that he was part of a political manipulation or strategy, to put it in milder terms, by Basil. In other words, Basil wanted to consolidate his position of leadership against possible threats from semi-Arian and other Christian groups, and for this reason he needed more dioceses, more bishops and more faithful. Reflecting on the situation, Gregory remembers his “courageous past” with Basil, and the fact that Basil considered him one of his most belligerent 4

Ibid., 38–9. Ibid., 43. 6 Ibid., 49. 5

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friends when they were in Athens.7 That means he would have been useful in case of an argument that might have put Basil’s position at risk. Gregory’s pride was hurt because he was used in the manipulation and his deception was as great as his love for and friendship with Basil. Yet he accepted being ordained out of love and respect for his father. The second thing that hurt his pride and dignity in this episode was related to Sasima as a place. His indignation is evident in the colourful and powerful language he uses to describe it: There is a resting place in the middle of the grand route of Cappadocia which opens in three directions, with no water, no greenery, without anything that is convenient to a free person; a hamlet terribly odious and small. Everything was dusty, noisy … and the population consisted of strangers and vagabonds. This is my church of Sasima!8

His protest and indignation are evident in another description: It was in fact intolerable that a man that had nothing, shriveled, vaulted and poorly dressed, meted by food restrictions and tears and by the fear of the future and of the evils with which others could hurt him, who is not even endowed with a presentable face, a stranger, a vagabond, an individual buried in the earth’s obscurities, have the upper hand over people who were vigorous and of nice appearance.9

Another phase in Gregory’s history of dignity is Constantinople. Even if he was reticent about being enthroned as bishop of the great city, he enjoyed his Anastasia church and his parishioners, among other things. Later in life he remembered how much he was admired for his sermons there. He fondly speaks of “those who once rejoiced in our preaching.”10

7

Ibid., 43. In the poem “Autobiographie” [“Autobiography”] in Saint Grégoire de Nazianz, Œuvres poétiques, Poèmes personnels II, 1, 1–11, text traduit et annoté par Jean Bernardi (Paris: Les Belles lettres, 2004), 76. 9 Ibid., 86. 10 In “Against the Deceiver in Time of Sickness,” in St. Gregory of Nazianzus: Poems on Scripture, translation and introduction by Brian Dunkle (Yonkers, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2012), 141. 8

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A sense of dignity transpires from the way Gregory speaks of his discourse when he was installed as bishop in the presence of the emperor: After that, I don’t know how to go on with my discourse as I have so much to say – which writer would do it for me? – I am ashamed, in fact, to say good things about myself; … I will speak though with all moderation of which I am capable.11

One can see that he was aware of his qualities that gave him a legitimate sense of pride, although he did not display it with ostentation. However, he did not bury it altogether either. We see that from another instance when he addressed the crowds at the Anastasia church in his farewell speech: I was not the man to bow his knee under constraint … I did not swear in such conditions (yet I did not hesitate to extoll myself in God as well, a little bit, since I have received in the bath the grace of the Spirit), but I gave them my word that was accredited by my character, to stay there until other bishops would come.12

Finally, Gregory showed dignity again when he decided to retire from the high position he had in Constantinople: My enthronement was not agreeable to me, and now I retire on my own will. In fact, I do this because of my health as well. The only debt I have to pay is death, and this belongs to God.13

Even when old and in pain, Gregory found reason to feel dignified by thinking of Christ’s cross and suffering, but also of the glory of the resurrection that followed: I carry a cross in my limbs, a cross on my journey, a cross in my heart. The cross is my glory. (“Repelling the Devil and Invocation of Christ”)14

11

Saint Grégoire de Nazianz, 114. Ibid., 101–3. 13 Ibid., 132. 14 St. Gregory of Nazianzus, 155. 12

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In another poem (“Lament for His Soul”) he makes a reference to the type of life that he used to live, at least at times, which denotes an aristocratic sort of dignity: “Again I will leave the great glory of orations and noble blood, and lofty homes and all wealth.”15 The same thing is mentioned in another poem (“Against the Deceiver in Time of Sickness”): “No longer do I stand in the joyful company of the victorious venerating the honored blood with words of praise.”16 As mentioned above, the sense of dignity is also derived from being aware of the worth of his talents and skills that he recognizes are gifts from God. Brian Dunkle clarifies that these talents were writing and rhetoric.17 In fact, Gregory speaks openly about his oratorical skills (“The Parable of the Four Gospels”) and is even proud of them (“Against Anger”) when he explains how, through the power of his speech, he “suppressed oath taking” as a practice, and through the same skill promised to fight the vice of anger: “We will excise, cutting it out, as much as possible, with the blade of our speech.”18 John McGuckin also writes about Gregory’s awareness of his preeminence in Christian oratory, philosophy and poetry, 19 which is a justified basis for his personal sense of pride and dignity. In conclusion for this section, one can say that St. Gregory of Nazianzus had a strong sense of personal dignity from conscientizing his talents and gifts that led to success, glory and admiration from those around him, and, very importantly, even at the end of his life with all the pain, suffering and isolation that humbled him so much – although humility is not inconsistent and incompatible with dignity – when he indicated his awareness of who he was and what he did, and took comfort in it.

15

Ibid., 149. Ibid., 143. 17 Ibid., 75. 18 Ibid., 81. 19 John A. McGuckin, “Gregory of Nazianzus: The Rhethorician as Poet,” in Gregory of Nazianzus: Images and Reflections, edited by T. Hagg and J. Bortnes (Copenhagen: Museum of Tusculanum Press, 2005), 195. 16

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As John McGuckin writes, “the final influence that shaped his life was his own consciousness of the brilliant gifts with which he had been endowed.”20

The Theological Dimension of Dignity As Michael Welker says, “the personhood of man is inseparably connected to his or her dignity. The dignity of man is grounded in his or her being the Imago Dei, the image of God. The image of God carries an immediate relation of every human being to God.”21 In one of his theological poems (“Meditation on the Christian Doctrine”), Gregory elaborates on his understanding of the soul and explains how its worth comes from God. It is interesting to see how Gregory begins his speech on this topic, much like a modern contemporary way of advertising: “Listen now to our excellent doctrine on the soul,” he writes. Echoing an expression of St. John Chrysostom, he says that God created man like a “terrestrial angel,” and in words and images later used by Pico della Mirandola, in his classic book Oratio de Hominis Dignitate, Gregory talks about how God created man as soul and flesh, at once mortal and immortal, with free will, having embedded in him the principle of the good meant to lead man to becoming god, thus reaching the highest possible dignity for which he was originally conceived.22 In terms of his belief about dignity in its theological aspect, Gregory is very clear: the affiliation with God brings about the highest honour and dignity. That is implied in the statement where he declares concisely: “God is my father and unto God I have been yoked.”23 In other words, if God is my father, his goods, including dignity, are also mine.

20

Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, translated and with an introduction by John A. McGuckin (Convent of the Incarnation, Fairacres, Oxford: SLG Press, 1995), viii. 21 Michael Welker, “Theological Anthropology Versus Anthropological Reductionism,” in God and Human Dignity, edited by R. Kendall Soulen and Linda Woodhead (Grand Rapids, MI: Williams B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2006), 326–7. 22 Saint Grégoire de Nazianz, 72–3. 23 In the poem “A Comparison of Lives,” in On God and Man: The Theological Poetry of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, translated and introduced by Peter Gilbert (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001), 119.

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But dignity is also derived from the human soul’s originating in “the breath of God.” Thus, the soul is “divine and imperishable,” because “it would not be right for the great God’s image to disintegrate in formlessness” (“On the Soul”).24 In another attempt to define the soul, Gregory writes that it is “an efflux of the unseen Godhead,” and possesses a mind of a “lordly nature,” which is also part of the body.25 Consequently, the lordly nature of the mind ennobles the human being and gives them a lordly dignity. Dignity does not relate to social environments only, that is, how you feel in yourself about who you are vis-à-vis other people and how others treat you; it is related first of all to how you feel you stand before God and, more than that, how God treats you. But if dignity originates in God and you are God’s son or daughter, God will treat you with dignity (“Against Anger”).26 Going into more detail in his understanding of the origin of dignity, Gregory underlines its Trinitarian character. In his poem “Meditation on the Christian Doctrine,” he speaks first about the Father and the Son who both have equal dignity, and then about the Holy Spirit who is equally God and “who makes me god down here.”27 In other words, human dignity derives from the Holy Trinity and we have it in so much as we stay in communion with the Trinitarian God as we advance through a life of virtue and purification from sin; that is what makes us compatible with God or gives us the condition of “god,” meaning being in the process of deification. The dignity that comes from the Holy Trinity is “royal” and the angels whom he calls noetic, translucent beings, have it before us28; yet man, who is a “terrestrial angel,” has it as well, as man is created in the image of the Trinity. However, Gregory does not forget to emphasize the Christological dimension of the human dignity. In a poem (“To Himself in the Form of Question and Answer”) he addresses Christ as follows: “Christ the Lord, you are my homeland, my strength, my wealth, my all.”29 By being born

24

Ibid., 62. Ibid., 65. 26 St. Gregory of Nazianzus, 107. 27 Saint Grégoire de Nazianz, 67. 28 On God and Man, 57. 29 St. Gregory of Nazianzus, 139. 25

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into a Christian family, Gregory believed that his dignity came from Christ at birth. That is why he speaks of “Christ … who once ennobled me in the womb of a holy mother” (“Against the Deceiver in Time of Sickness”),30 and evidently that is the case with everyone born in a Christian household. Another way in which Gregory stresses the Christological aspect of the human dignity is by talking about Christ who restored the human being, the human life and existence, the human dignity implied. This comes into play in particular where Gregory develops his argument against the Apollinarian heresy. Apollinaris the Younger, Bishop of Laodicea, taught that the mind of Christ was divine and not human. In response, Gregory formulated his famous doctrine about Christ having assumed the entire human nature and being, specifying that what is not assumed by Christ is not saved. In his poem against Apollinaris, Gregory writes: “God came as man to honor me, so He might restore everything He took on,”31 thus including human dignity. Gregory reflects time and again on the meaning of life as he continuously examines himself in terms of what he does and how, and of who he is, thus applying the Socratic principle according to which an unexamined life is not worth living. As human dignity is intrinsically related to the meaning of life and the meaning can be found only in as much as one searches for the knowledge of God in and through Jesus Christ,32 dignity will also find its restoration and fulfilment in man’s communion with God in Jesus Christ.

Man’s Responsibility Towards Human Dignity While dignity is a divine gift in man, from a theological point of view, he still has a major responsibility in maintaining and cultivating it. Man is responsible for what he does with what was received. If dignity is part of the image of God in man, an existential divine gift, and that was darkened by his own will, it is man’s responsibility to lead a right type of life, with purity of heart and mind, in order to bring the image back to its original brightness. This is Gregory’s general understanding on the issue.

30

Ibid., 141. On God and Man, 81. 32 Ibid., 3. 31

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Speaking in more detail, in line with Plato’s dichotomic view of man, according to which the soul is the superior main element in a human being whereas the flesh is inferior, Gregory attaches the dignity to the soul, “the spiritual principle that guides in us the superior part” (“Lamentation on the Troubles of His Soul”). Consequently, he confesses that he wants to live his life on earth without leaving any trace here, in order to approach the life of the immortals detached from any bond.33 The affirmation here might seem unrealistic, keeping in mind the fact that Gregory was aware of how much he had left behind and what an important trace that represented, in particular for the life of the Church. It is clear then that when he speaks of leaving no trace on earth he refers specifically to being attached to the world and its pleasures. The ascetic ideal and his ascetical endeavours represent an exercise of renunciation and detachment in this particular sense. In other words, man is a theandric being in which the divine element prevails or has to prevail as the soul is “an efflux of divinity, of infinite light” (whereas the body is formed from a “murky root”), as he writes in the poem “Concerning the Word.”34 Compatible with such a soul is a virtuous life as he stresses in the poem “In Praise of Virginity,”35 and it is up to man to live such a life in which authentic dignity resides. In another poem, “On Human Nature,” Gregory discusses the paradoxical union between body and soul. Echoing the empiricists who, before Socrates, tried to understand the nature of things, and then Plato who, based on the totally different nature of the body from that of the soul, believed in the total separation between the two and taught the superiority of the soul over the body, Gregory of Nazianzus considered evil as being inseparable from the nature of the flesh. This is how he addresses it: “Flesh, I am telling you, you so difficult to get healed, sweet enemy … ferocious beast … fire that cools – incredible thing! But it would be even more incredible if you would finish by becoming my friend!”36 One can see that even if the human condition seems to be an insolvable existential dilemma and a deadlock paradox, man still has a vocation for

33

Saint Grégoire de Nazianz, 63. On God and Man, 49. 35 Ibid., 92. 36 Saint Grégoire de Nazianz, 77–9. 34

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deification, and responding concretely to this vocation is to live with the dignity one expects from a spiritual person. Yet, to fight with such the “ferocious beast,” the “sweet enemy” and the “fire that cools,” besides being a paradoxical thing, seems to be an impossible one. In this case, God’s intervention is salutary since “what is impossible with man is possible with God” (Luke 18, 27). This topic is discussed by Gregory in several other poems. For example, in “Against the Flesh” he indicates clearly that, even if the “I” of the person is both body and soul, dignity is attached to the soul, and he talks to the flesh as being an external element of the “I”: “Flesh, respect me,” he says, defending his dignity, “contain your avidity and stop exercising your rage on my soul.”37 In many places in his poetry, Gregory seems to fall into nihilistic moods, yet in such moments he is a strong believer in God and Christ as his saviour. This is similar to the moments on the cross where, on the one hand, Christ asks God the Father, “Why have You abandoned Me?” (Mark 15, 34), but in the same context indicates His unbroken connection with the Father: “Father, In Your hands I entrust My spirit” (Luke 23, 46). This is how Gregory has it: “If I am nothing, my Christ, why did you form me thus? If I am precious to you, why am I pressed by so many evils?” (“Desire for Death”).38 Besides the interesting fact that here Gregory has the boldness to throw the ball of our problems and our existential dilemma into Christ’s yard, he stresses the idea of human dignity when he assumes that he is precious in Christ’s eyes. This kind of speech is resonant of Psalm 8 where, in wonder of how God cares for man, the author asks God: “Who is man that you remember him, or the son of man that You care of him?” The fight between good and evil on the scene of man’s life is a hard one, and few are those who can proclaim themselves victorious. Gregory seems to be one of them. When he felt the end of his life coming, in addressing the devil (“Against the Deceiver in Time of Sickness”), he wrote with dignifying satisfaction: “I never bent the knee of my heart to you; but

37 38

Ibid., 57. Ibid., 133.

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invincible and unconquered I will descend into the mother earth.” And this is how he will meet Christ: “To Christ I will present the divine image that I received.”39 One understands that this image, being as it was received, was purified in a long and hard battle, and that is a merit that indicates dignity, even though, in his humility, Gregory does not speak directly of any merit. Yet it is implied in what he says and how he says it. Speaking of purification, Gregory makes a distinction between people who are pure or in the process of purification (meaning baptized Christens and Catechumens) and the rest (“On the Father”).40 He even writes specifically that his poem is intended only for the pure or those in the process. He implies that the dignity of a pure life comes from being a Christian, from living in the light of Christ, which is man’s own choice and contribution to living a higher type of life of a higher dignity. To be more concrete, to the question of how one can keep and cultivate the human dignity, Gregory’s response is simple: “Imitate God” (“A Comparison of Lives”) and detach yourself from earthly things. This imperative is skilfully put in terms of the tertium non datur theory: either, or. “You either possess the principles of all things visible,” he writes, “or else be high above all visible things.”41 And since it is clear that no one can possess the principles of all things (except for God), the only option and solution is to detach from them and follow God. This makes the soul “harmonize with the noumena,”42 he concludes more philosophically.

Conclusion St. Gregory of Nazianzus has a highly dignifying view of human dignity. Based on the understanding that dignity is part of the image of God in which man was created, as the image was not withdrawn by God or lost because of the sin, only darkened or diminished, so the dignity, with Christ’s help, which does not exclude man’s effort and contribution, can be restored to the original condition. Gregory strongly believed that, in Christ, man is as great 39

Ibid., 143. On God and Man, 37. 41 Ibid., 212. 42 Ibid., 123. 40

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“as a very angel” (“On the Cheapness of the Outward Man”),43 that in Christ is “perfected as god” (“Concerning the World”)44 and has their soul “mixed with divinity,” which makes man a god as well (“Against the Enemy”).45 This is how they are supposed to journey to God’s Kingdom (“On the Soul”).46 One can recognize here St. Athanasius’s teaching: “God became man so that man can become god.” This theology is dignifying because man is not saved by God in the way God would save an object, but his contribution is necessary, and that in itself is dignifying, for man to know that he is a co-worker with God in the work for his own salvation. Thus, in St. Gregory’s beautiful, optimistic and dignifying theology, man is worthy of deification, and this process starts here in Christ and is fulfilled eschatologically in the Kingdom of God.

43

Ibid., 144. Ibid., 52. 45 St. Gregory of Nazianzus, 153. 46 On God and Man, 66. 44

THE ART OF COMMUNICATION IN GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS’S POETRY Introduction Gregory of Nazianzus’s poetry is richer and more complex and profound than that of other poets of his time because it springs not only from a brilliant mind, but also from long and deep mystical experiences. As Preston Edwards indicates, Gregory’s poetry is in line with his theological writings. There is clear unity of purpose between them,1 yet his poetry is inseparable from his life experiences.2 Gregory was offered the chance of an academic career in Athens, and while he accepted it at the strong insistence of his friends, he left Athens shortly after having taught there in order to embrace a different lifestyle of contemplation and prayer. For Gregory, silence, contemplation, prayer and study were all that philosophy was about, and to live a philosophical life was of a higher value than being an academic. He did, however, have an academic mind as well, which is plentifully indicated by his theological and creative writings. Yet this combination of academic knowledge and mystical experiences would be the basis and main characteristic of his poetry. That is why he has verses that are purely didactic in nature but also some that are purely spiritual and of course a combination of the two in the same poem. In the theological treatises, Gregory used his brilliant intellectual abilities, knowledge and communication skills in order to both teach the Orthodox doctrine of the Church effectively and combat the heresies of the time. The same is true for the poetical writings, where the general and 1

Preston Edwards, “I Will Speak to Those Who Understand: Gregory of Nazianzus’ Carmina Arcana, 1, 1–24,” in http://www.apaclassics.org /AnnualMeeting/02mtg/abstracts/Edwards/html. 2 On God and Man: The Theological Poetry of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, translated and introduced by Peter Gilbert (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001), 1.

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common purpose was to attract and convince the reader. These poems are not descriptive in nature, as when the author describes a landscape. They are deeply psychological (in particular when autobiographical) and theological or philosophical (when it comes to explaining his religious convictions, as he does in poems such as “On the Faith,” “On the Son,” “On the Holy Spirit,” “On Providence,” “On the Soul,” “On the Two Covenants and the Appearing of Christ,” “Against Apollinarius,” “On the Incarnation of Christ,” and many others). The same powerful communication skills are also used in poems related to morality, where he writes about what is to be done, which requires a lot of clarity and precision, as well as persuasion skills, and in poems where he uses the style figure of personification, such as where he has marriage and virginity or the worldly life and the spiritual life talking to each other. Effective communication strategies are also used where he is in critical dialogue with his own soul in poems meant to stimulate self-knowledge and self-assessment using the Socratic method, like the one titled “Who Am I?” In many cases, these are “cries of the heart, expressions both of self-pity and of unshakable faith,”3 alongside those where he offers spiritual guidance to young people, having in view their moral education. Communication is a very complex phenomenon, being both cataphatic and apophatic; that is, we can say what it is, yet it is more than we can say. It happens on undefined channels as it transgresses the human capability of catching every aspect of it and dissecting it. However, everything that makes a communication good and effective can be found in Gregory’s poetry. According to Stephen E. Lucas,4 for example, communicating with an intended audience implies choosing a topic, determining the general and specific purpose, audience-centeredness, awareness of the audience’s characteristics (age, sex, religion, ethnicity), use of illustrations and examples, organization and structure of ideas, getting the attention and interest of the audience, being mindful of the use of language in terms of meaning of words, accuracy and clarity, using language vividly (imagery, 3 Brian E. Daley, Gregory of Nazianzus (London and New York: S. J., Routledge, 2006), 163. 4 Stephen E. Lucas, The Art of Public Speaking, 3rd ed. (New York: Random House, 1989).

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rhythm, style figures), having in view the informative and persuasive character of the speech, building credibility, using logic and reasoning but also appealing to emotions, using critical thinking in terms of defining a problem, analysing and interpreting it, but also finding and offering potential solutions. These are just some of the aspects and tips that the effective communicator needs to pay attention to. When it comes to Gregory’s communication through his poetry, we find all of these and others applied in many ways, together with other features characteristic of the art of poetry. This short presentation does not intend to go into all details of such an interesting and complex topic. It will only give a number of illustrations that will be enough to prove Gregory’s excellent communication skills with particular application to his poetry.

Communication Strategies No wonder that Gregory of Nazianzus was the greatest rhetorician of his age, “an undisputed master of words.”5 Beyond his innate rich talents with his love of education, he studied rhetoric diligently in all places where he went to school: Diocaesarea, Caesarea in Cappadocia, Caesarea in Palestine (when he studied with the renowned sophist Thespesius), Alexandria (the largest university centre in the East) and Athens with its famous professors, where Gregory studied with Proeresius who was a celebrity orator.6 In such a situation, it is understandable why the art of communication held no secrets for him. Writing was second nature for Gregory of Nazianzus. To the question, “Why don’t you leave writing aside so you can calm down?” asked by

5

Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, translated and with an introduction by John A. McGuckin (Convent of the Incarnation, Fairacres, Oxford: SLG Press, 1995), viii; See also TincuĠa Cloúcă, “Atitudinea părinĠilor greci ai Bisericii din veacurile II–III faĠă de tradiĠia oratorică” [“The Attitude of the Greek Church Fathers of the Second and Third Centuries Concerning the Oratoric Tradition”], in Theologia Catholica 56, no. 3–4 (2011): 23. 6 Stelianos Papadopoulos, Vulturul ranit: Viata Sfantului Grigore Teologul [The Wounded Eagle: The Life of Saint Gregory the Theologian], translation from Greek into Romanian by Constantin Coman and Cornel Coman (Bucureúti: Editura Bizantina, 2002), 18–43.

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Eustatius in a moment where the bishop was not feeling well, he responded: “There is a kind of boiling in myself; it is impossible for me to contain it.”7 But also, as Peter Gilbert notes, Gregory wrote poetry because it acted “for him as a kind of pain-killer in times of physical or mental suffering.”8 Another purpose of his poetry writing was to show that there is literary talent among the Christian writers, not only the pagan ones, an enterprise that engaged him in a difficult but successful struggle in using the profane culture in the service of the Christian, for which Gregory had to use all possible strategies from being logical, attractive and strategic to a variety of psychological methods, showing perseverance and courage. As a philosopher and in particular a theologian, he had to impart his knowledge and feelings to others, as philosophy is about teaching people how to die and implicitly how to live, according to a Socratic definition, and as theology is missionary in essence. Consequently, writing for himself was not the purpose, even though that might seem to the case at times. When writing has other people in view and the intention is to teach them the right way of living and believing, communication skills become fundamentally important. As a versed rhetor, and according to classical rule, in his very long autobiographic poem, Gregory announces the topic at the very beginning in order to prepare the reader mentally for what follows. “The purpose of this discourse is to make complete exposure of the course of my misfortunes and as well of my advantages,” we read, and the poet then. gives the motivation and reason why he wants to do that, namely because, if he does not, others will, and each will have his own inclinations (read bias),9 and consequently the author’s own account is the best. Using critical thinking, he explains this more precisely in later verses: “I am obliged to tell of all my adventures going back in time, even if I have to be too long, so that false interpretations would not prevail against me.”10

7

Ibid., 261. On God and Man, 3. 9 Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, Oeuvres Poétiques, Poèmes personnels, II, 1, 1–11, texte établi par André Tuilier et Guillaume Bady, traduction et notes par Jean Bernardi (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2004), 57. 10 Ibid., 59. 8

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As Jean Bernardi notes, Gregory wrote this poem (on his own life) with his old passion for teaching and had in view educated people, especially students.11 But as the bishop indicates in another verse, the target is more general and ambitious and for the long run: “Listen all of you, people of today and also people of the future,” he writes.12 As this poem is to be viewed like a testament, like a legacy, it is clear why from the start he uses established communication strategies and dedicates himself so much to it. A successful communication technique is the appeal to past (in particular) or present authorities. Being the exquisitely educated man that he was, having studied in the most famous centres of learning of his time, with his love and thirst for knowledge, Gregory was very familiar with the works of the classics. Anthony McGuckin gives us a partial list, in alphabetical order, of the authors Gregory refers to in his writings, including poetry: Anaxilas, Apollonius of Rhodes, Aratus, Aristophanes, Aristotle, Callimachus, Demosthenes, Diogenes Laërtius, Evagoras, Heraclitus, Herodotus, Hesiod, Homer, Isocrates, Lucian, Lysias, Philo, Phocylides, Pindar, Plato, Plutarch, Sappho, Simonides, Socrates, Theocritus, Theognis and Thucydides.13 Biblical references are to be found everywhere in his poetry, as his basic formation was theology and his nature mystical. The fact that in many poems, in particular the long ones, he writes an introduction where he uses communication techniques to catch the reader’s attention, such as warnings asking for attention, or the captatio benevolentiae strategy where he explains the reason of that particular piece of writing and other similar details, even to the point where, when he finishes his introduction, he announces doing so (“Be it that these statements be considered the exordium of my discourse”),14 shows that he pays good attention to the organization of his message, the systematic character of elaboration and the clarity of communication. For Gregory, meaningful discourse has to have content.

11

Ibid., 57. Ibid., 59. 13 John A. McGuckin, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus: An Intellectual Biography (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001), 57. 14 Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 59. 12

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We see that he paid good attention to this issue when in his autobiographic poem he criticizes the empty discourse of the arrogant writers, whose only skill was to be well versed in the “vain and useless ability” of manipulating the words they were pronouncing with noisy sonority,15 and were speaking (or writing) just to hear themselves doing it. In order to engage the reader and break the possible monotony of discourse, Gregory very often formulates rhetorical questions. One example is where he writes about the beautiful moral life of his parents: “My parents, because of their life, were often object of laudatory conversations. How could I express it? What proof could I offer?”16 Another communication strategy used by Gregory is the intercalation in his narration of the direct speech where he suddenly starts a dialogue with the reader or God, for instance, or his own soul. This is meant to engage the reader by interpellating them to help in assimilate the information and get the message. Speaking of his mother’s promise to offer him to God, a promise made before he was born, Gregory, in modesty but playing intelligently on ideas, writes: “If I am worthy of my parents’ commitment, this is due to God who listened to their prayers and gave me to them; if, on the contrary, I deserve hate, this is because of my sins.”17 On occasion, Gregory becomes very ironic and confrontational in order to both shock and show strength, but also challenge and captivate the audience. In the poem “To Those With No Love” (towards him, referring to the bishops who did not want him in Constantinople) he writes: “You who bring sacrifices, my brothers, jealousy had a hard time to kill me … I am gone: Applaud.”18 On several occasions the theologian used his poetry in order to defend himself against these bishops who were the cause of his resignation from the patriarchal see. In such works, Gregory has two goals in view: first to

15 “Sur sa vie” [“On His Own Life”] in Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, textes choisis et présentés par Edmond Devolder dans la traduction de Paul Gallay (Namur, Belgique: Les Editions du Soleil Levant, 1960), 34. 16 Ibid., 32. 17 Ibid., 33. 18 Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 47.

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denounce the bishops’ hypocrisy; and second to defend his reputation as a nuanced and profound theologian who ably elaborated on the doctrine of the consubstantiality of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son (homoousion).19 In defending himself in his verses in such situations, Gregory also examined his life and mind with an open conscience and in great detail. In these conflicted situations, as he writes out of indignation, the poet uses an array of communication techniques meant to explain and prove the adversary’s error. It goes without saying that he had to be extremely careful in his formulations, writing in a systematic, logical and convincing way, as he had to deal with sensitive theological issues and knew that his adversaries were also very educated and powerful.20 In another case he starts with an insult to those who possibly disagree with him in theological matters, in order to incite and shock, and show or produce indignation. In the poem “On the Incarnation of Christ,” he attacks: “Foolish is he who honors not the royal and eternal Word of God.”21

Conclusion These are just a few examples of how Gregory of Nazianzus conceived his creative writing and some of the main communication techniques, skills and strategies that he used in his poetical career, as he knew that the first imperious need in his poetry writing was to be effective in whatever purpose he had in mind when he wrote. Gregory of Nazianzus remains one of the most powerful theologianpoets of his age, and it is an all the more challenging task for future students of his poetry to bring to light and share the value of his creative writing in all the endeavours of his life.

19

McGuckin, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus: An Intellectual Biography, 371; 375. Ibid., 372. 21 McGuckin, Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, 5. 20

MANAGING CHANGE IN GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS’S POETRY Preliminaries Change is a constant and common phenomenon in life. But as common as it is, very often it is hard to manage, even in cases where it is anticipated, even desired, and all the more when it comes by surprise and in ways that have a serious impact on our lives, affecting our habitual way of being. Many times, change comes as a novelty against our comfortable status quo, as a threat, because, being unpredictable, it brings us into new territory where anything can happen and where we are not in control. Change implies departure from the original nature, transition, transformation, loss and gain; it brings about delight, joy, happiness and wellbeing just as it brings about frustration, sadness, anger and suffering. If Plato is right when he says that man is a mass of conflicting desire, then in such an existential condition change is at home. But even in such a condition, some people seem to master their life pretty well, as they conscientize their needs and their fight and go through fire to reach their goals, and others, while being aware of their needs and goals, succumb to circumstances that put expected or unexpected pressure on their lives and abilities of decision making. In other cases, people do not know what they really want and are blown by the wind of their fate or destiny in all directions, happy just to stay afloat and not be swallowed up by the deep. Some are confused about their real vocation and try to navigate between where they are and where they think they are meant to be, and finally others might be caught between two equally strong vocations and try to navigate between them. This is a life where one is not only constantly subject to change, like in the other cases, but also where one might not feel really accomplished in either of them. It seems that Gregory of Nazianzus belonged to this last category. He had the fire of the desert in his heart and the light of the intellectual understanding in his mind. He loved to live a solitary life dedicated to God

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alone, a philosophical life that implied detachment, but he also loved philosophy in the general sense of the term – he considered himself a philosopher besides knowing he was a theologian – and conscientized the need to put his talent, capacity and education in the service of the Church. Very often when one is in such a situation, one tries to do two different things at the same time and does not really succeed in either. This is not the case of Gregory. However, by reading his life carefully, based on his own confession, one might come to the conclusion that while he was a great theologian and dedicated mystic, if he had had only one direction – say that of theology – he would have written many more theological works than he did, and perhaps would have been a great and long-serving Patriarch in the high see of the Christian world, Constantinople. Or, on the other hand, had he consecrated his life uniquely to hesychia, he might have become a great desert father who would have made history, or one who, maybe even greater, would not have made history but been known only by God alone.

Dilemmas Specific to Gregory is the fact that he tried to walk the fine line between both vocations, yet was in constant pain and felt miserable when following either one through missing the other. Even if the middle way between the two vocations did not really make him happy, it seems to have been the solution to his dilemma when nothing else was better. Stelianos Papadopoulos describes this struggle: He would not renounce the hesychia and its divine gifts, but he could not deny the fight for theology, either. Hesychia was charming him. Theology was a holy duty. He struggled a lot with himself and his God, and then, he found the solution: the middle way. Between those who do not marry and those who marry, between ascetics and Christians living in the world. The first ones withdraw from the world, live a rigid and special life worrying about nothing but the soul, they are serene and meditative. The others live a regular life, being part of the world’s troubles, losing their tranquility and worrying about the others’ souls. The first ones, with the vision of God, the others, people of concrete deeds. Gregory, following the middle way, always tried to take from hesychasts the highest virtues, and from the people of the

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Managing Change in Gregory of Nazianzus’s Poetry deed, love. This is how he solved his great problem: staying celibate, but working in the world, being a pastor and theologizing.1

Athens When he was in Athens for about ten years with Basil, while enjoying his academic activities and accomplishments, and apparently being “idyllically happy” there, as John McGuckin writes,2 he nevertheless longed for an ascetical life of detachment that he called philosophical.3 However, the dilemma related to choosing a way, even if it was diminished after Basil’s departure from Athens when Gregory also strengthened his desire to leave, which tormented his mind, as he testifies in his long autobiographical poem: “I was looking for a solution, the best of the best.” On the one hand he wanted to throw “into the abyss the things of the flesh,” meaning embracing a life of solitude. But on the other he says, “I was possessed by the desire for divine books and by the light of the Spirit that resided in the contemplation of the Word, a thing which cannot be accomplished in the desert with its calm”; that is, he wanted to theologize. Even when he was trying to discern God’s ways, he wrote, “It was not easy for me to find the one which was really the best. For different reasons each one seemed to be good or bad, as it often happens when one has to do something.” C Consequently, he had to “change direction” many times.4

Ordination to Priesthood Another big dilemma in Gregory’s life that illustrates a radical change he had to go through is related to his ordination as a priest so that he could help his father in pastoral work in Nazianzus in 361. While he was thinking of 1

Stelianos Papadopoulos, Vulturul rănit: ViaĠa Sfântului Grigorie Teologul [The Wounded Eagle: The Life of Saint Gregory the Theologian], translation from Greek into Romanian by Constantin Coman and Cornel Coman (Bucureúti: Ed. Bizantina, 2002), 49. 2 John A. McGuckin, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus: An Intellectual Biography (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001), 76. 3 Ibid., 78; 80. 4 Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, Oeuvres Poétiques, Poems personels, II, 1, 1–11, text établi par Andre Tuilier et Guillaume Bady, traduction et notes par Jean Bernardi, (Paris: Ed. Les Belles Lettres, 2004), 69–70.

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the usefulness of an active life, like that of pastoral care and leadership in a congregation, and the appreciation one has to have for such work (“I was thinking, anyway, that one has to have good feelings for people of action who received from God the honor to lead people in the accomplishment of divine rights”),5 he strongly inclined towards a contemplative lifestyle. He wanted to be a monk, not a priest. However, after much struggle, he had to obey his father’s will and strong insistencies and accept, embittered in in his heart, the ordination to the priesthood, out of respect for his father; but, as we read in a poem about his own troubles, also out of the great pity he had for him: The affection I had for my parents who were dear to me retained me, bringing me like a burden to the earth or, rather, not so much the affection as this pity which tears everything down … pity which is the sweetest among all passions, pity for the white hair of divine aspect, pity for their sadness, pity for the loss of their children …6

It is also interesting to see how Gregory understood the respect due to somebody combined with that person’s moral authority as equal to tyranny, as he bitterly complains: My father, who after all knew my desires very well, allowed himself to be caught in this, I don’t know how, by his paternal love, – and it’s a fearsome thing when love is joined by power. He wanted to submit me to the influence of the Spirit and honor me with the best he had: he made me obey and forced me to take the second place next to him. This tyranny (I can’t help, even now, using this word, and my divine Spirit forgive me for such feelings), this tyranny caused me such suffering that I suddenly left everything, friends, parents, birthplace, kin, and, just as a bull bitten by horsefly, ran away to the Pontus in order to relieve my pain …7

Once in Pontus, finding refuge with Basil, his admired friend, Gregory changed his mind and, again, at the constant and strong supplications and 5

Ibid., 71. Ibid., 20. 7 Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, Poemes, Lettres, Discours, textes choisis et presentés par Edmond Devolder dans la traduction the Paul Gallay, Les Editions du Soleil Levant, Namur, Belgique, 1960, p. 41. 6

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insistencies of his father, and also afraid of some kind of malediction, returned home: While with his [Basil’s] help I was trying to calm my pain, my excellent father, overwhelmed by age, vividly wanting to see his son, increased his supplications in order to make me return and honor his last days; and as my pain diminished over time, I ran again jumping into the abyss. I should have never done it, but I was afraid of the screams and indignation of my father, I was afraid to see his love change into curse, the effect of a simple irritated affection.8

Apparently, Gregory came to terms with his condition, helping where he was supposed to help and doing what he was supposed to do for about ten years, during which he travelled several times to Pontus to see Basil, working with him and helping him, in particular when his friend came into conflict with Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea.

Ordination as Bishop A tragedy happened in 372 when Basil, now bishop of the northern part of the province of Cappadocia, in competition with the bishop of the southern part over episcopal jurisdictions, ordained Gregory as Bishop of Sasima, not far from Nazianzus in the south, in order to increase the number of bishops there who were faithful to him. That ordination, which Gregory considered a gross manipulation by his father and Basil, and which filled his heart with disillusionment, pain and anger, represented a great, substantial and undesired change in the theologian’s life. This hierarchical move, while abrupt and unwelcome, also created a dilemma in the sense that he had to finally accept arguments from both his father and Basil that it was the work of the Spirit in the service of the Church, that the Church was in a time of trouble and need and that he was right there, endowed by God with many gifts that had to be put to work there and then. Gregory’s rage against his ordination was directed first of all against Basil, his most trusted friend, whom he did not necessarily feel obliged to obey in the same way as his father (this is the father’s extenuating 8

Ibid.

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circumstance here), even if, in this case, Basil acted like a father, and an even more rigid one than Gregory’s biological parent. With bitterness and irony, Gregory says in his autobiographical poem: We lived to see a day when we saw coming to us the most loved of all my friends, Basil … Ah! What can I say! Yes, I will say it anyway! … And this friend acted just like my father did, but much stricter though! Before my father, in fact, I had to cede when he tyrannized me, but before Basil I was not obliged to do the same, due to a friendship which caused my unhappiness instead of liberating me from my problems … do I have to accuse you, the best of all men, and the pride that you got from becoming a bishop? For all the rest, for this eloquence that we studied together, you would probably not have deemed yourself better than me. No, my friend, you did not believe this then, and if you would, we could, in order to stop this kind of idea, find an impartial judge among people who knew us well. What happened, then, to you? How could you suddenly reject me? Oh, let this law of friendship which honors friends in this particular way disappear from this world! Yesterday we used to be lions and today, look at me, I am reduced to the condition of a monkey; and even to be a lion was not enough for you! And even if you behaved this way towards all your friends, you should have – and I say it loudly – you should have made an exception for me, because you preferred me among them all when you were not yet elevated above the clouds, when you did not see everything as being at your feet.9

What hurt Gregory even more was the fact that Basil did to him the inconceivable: he lied to him: “Basil, who for all the rest was the man farthest from lying, lied to me.”10 Gregory’s rage was further increased by the pitiful condition of the place where he was supposed to be a bishop, Sasima. We read a description of it in the same poem: There is a relay on the big way of Cappadocia, at the junction of three roads; there is no water there at all, no greenery, nothing that pleases a free man; it is a small narrow village, terribly hateful; all one finds there is just dust and noise, chariots, laments, cries, tax collectors, tools of torture, chains; in fact, the inhabitants are nothing but strangers travelling through and vagabonds: 9

Ibid., 42–3. Ibid., 44.

10

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Managing Change in Gregory of Nazianzus’s Poetry this is my Church of Sasima. This is where Basil placed me while he himself lived in a place with fifty auxiliary bishops! … Someone tell me, in God’s name, what was I supposed to do?? Was I supposed to be happy? … Not finding a place to shelter my old age? Always being violently chased away from the roof that protected me? Not even having bread to share with a guest? Being charged, in my poverty, to lead a poor people? … Ah, ferocious beasts, will you not receive me? With you, I think, I could find more fidelity.11

In these very special circumstances, under great pressure from the most influential persons in his life, his father and his best friend Basil, Gregory accepted the ordination. He explains in the poem that he did it not so much for Basil as for his father, whose irritation he could not take. Gregory the Elder apparently made good use of arguments related to his age, his weariness, and his illnesses, not forgetting to use sweet and emotional language in order to convince his son: It’s a father who supplicates you, my very dear son, an old father in front of a young man, a master in front of his servant according to nature … it’s not gold that I am asking from you … I am inviting you to place yourself next to Aaron and Samuel and to make of yourself a precious help in God’s eyes. The One who brought you into the world possesses you; do not dishonor me, my child, so you can find an appropriate reception by the Unique Father … Give me this grace, give it to me, or else, let someone else bury me.12

To these requests and threats, Gregory could not but cede. However, as he testifies, he never did anything in that Church of Sasima, not even a single service in order to pray there with the people.13

Constantinople The next big change in the life of Gregory the Theologian was his promotion to the patriarchal see of Constantinople in 380, endorsed by the emperor Theodosius, including his position of leader of the Second Ecumenical

11

Ibid., 45–6. Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 78–9. 13 Ibid., 79. 12

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Council in 381 after the death of Meletius, which proved to be an extremely difficult task. The fact that he accepted this change was a sign that he understood his calling and mission in that place and moment. We read in his confessions: It was to them [people in Constantinople] that, due to the fact that we enjoyed a certain reputation in God, due to our life and doctrine … the grace of the Spirit sent us [he is using the majestic plural here] at the request of numerous priests and believers, in order to help people and assist with the doctrine.14

However, he didn’t like it more than the solitude he was longing for. There is proof that, as soon as he felt overwhelmed by the situation that implied administration, controversy, diplomacy and conflict, he just resigned and left. He left considering himself to be like the prophet Jonas, who had to jump from his ship as a sacrifice of himself in order for everybody else to be saved, even if, in Gregory’s case, according to his testimony, he did not feel responsible for the storm.15 He gave those gathered at the synod a farewell speech, emphasizing that there was no fault on his part for all the troubles, controversies, lack of discipline, faith and animosities, and that his own debt to pay was death – a debt belonging to God alone. After saying all that, he left for good, torn between joy and a certain sadness.16

Conclusion These are a few of the main phases of Gregory’s life where change, even radical in nature, indelibly affected his life. How was Gregory managing change in his life? Apparently, not so well at all. Except for the changes related to his education, in Athens in particular, all other phases that implied both ordinations, as priest and bishop, and then the promotion to the see of Patriarch of Constantinople and president of the Second Ecumenical Council, indicate that he was not ready for change and

14

Ibid., 82. Ibid., 131. 16 Ibid., 132. 15

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did not find the best way to cope with it. That is why, maybe, in his poetry there are so many places where he victimizes and underestimates himself; where he complains, protests and expresses his unhappiness and regret, as he constantly invokes “my pains,” “my sufferings,” “my ills,” “my failures,” and blames himself bitterly: “I am evil,” “weep, weep, sinner,” “the serpent apprehended me again,” “I am terrified,” “I am in torment here,” etc. In other words, from this point of view (of the suffering), he is ready for change and wants it, yet in such a situation one needs a strategy for survival, which in Gregory’s case is God alone, the only way. His confidence in God was unbreakable, his love inextinguishable, his faith unshakeable. For the Theologian, God was the reason why things happened the way they did, and He was the escape and the hope in times of trouble. Here are some examples of his recourse to God: “I look to you, o Christ, more than to the hardships I endure” (“Lament to Christ”); “Blessed One, look at my poor body” (“Prayer to Christ”),17 “Christ, may you bear me, your servant, as you wish” (“Against the Deceiver in Time of Sickness”), “Save me, o Christ, my king” (“Lament for His Soul”).18 * * * Gregory of Nazianzus was a very unique and interesting personality. While apparently not able to reconcile his two main inclinations for public service and solitude, in the sense that he could have done much more in each had he focused on one alone, he did achieve it in his own way. While in public service he often took retreats to satisfy his thirst for solitude and maybe regenerate and renew his energy, and on the other hand, while in solitude he did not stop writing, which in a different way was a public service too. Gregory of Nazianzus was like a man from a different world living in this one here. It was as if he did not belong here, yet felt he belonged to God, to whom he was attached with burning love. He might not have managed the changes he had to face in his life very well, but that fact itself 17 Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems, translated and with an introduction by John A. McGuckin (Convent of the Incarnation, Fairacres, Oxford: SLG Press, 1995), 16. 18 St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Poems on Scripture, translation and introduction by Brian Dunkle (Yonkers, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2012), 147; 151.

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produced an intellectual, literary heritage without which Gregory would not have been who he was, and we would be poorer.

GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS’S POETICAL LEGACY A legacy is like an inheritance, an endowment that is distributed to specifically designated people through a testament, will or other document,1 or, in some cases, even orally. Gregory of Nazianzus, in fact, wrote such a document to distribute his possessions and it appears that he is the only Church Father who left behind such a will signed by himself, and by witnesses there present, according to prescriptions of the Roman law.2 A legacy is what you leave behind, whether deliberately or unintentionally. It is something similar to what is implied in the beautiful Japanese proverb: “Before me there was no pathway; after me there will be one.” If the legacy is intended, one works purposefully and carefully in order to give shape, consistency and durability to one’s thought and work. If the legacy is unintended, one works for the sake of the work itself, based on vocation, passion and satisfaction. The quality or originality of the work or its message might then represent a legacy. The case of Gregory of Nazianzus indicates both an intended and unintended legacy. Speaking of the intention to leave a legacy, Brian E. Daley points out that Gregory: like retired politicians today … turned toward establishing his legacy. In the tranquil, if Spartan circumstances of his ancestral villa, he apparently devoted most of his time and energy to being a man of letters: editing and rewriting his best sermons and speeches, corresponding with friends and people of influence in the Empire, and composing the bulk of the large collection of verse he would leave behind, including the three long narrative poems, in epic style, recounting his own autobiography.3 1

Brian E. Daley, S. J., Gregory of Nazianzus (London and New York: Routledge, 2006), 187. 2 Ibid., 184. 3 Ibid., 25.

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Gregory lived in a fourth century troubled by different Christian heresies. As he came from a very pious Orthodox family and was internationally and highly educated in both Christian and lay cultures, he felt responsible for addressing these heresies, and all the more so when he became a bishop and was later elected to the highest rank in the Eastern Christian world, that of Patriarch of Constantinople. His sense of responsibility was strengthened and stimulated by the fact that he was a friend of Basil the Great, another remarkable Church leader in the fourth century, and contemporary of another important theologian, Gregory of Nyssa, Basil’s brother, also being consoled in later years to find out about the rise of St. John Chrysostom.4 In this context, as he had both to counter his opponents’ arguments and to help with the formulation of the Christian doctrine, he wrote his theological treatises with care, developing clearly stated and well elaborated arguments with the specific purpose to not only convince the heretics but also leave a clear Christian teaching for the generations to come. Even though we are concerned here with his poetry only, it is evident from the types of poetry he wrote (doctrinal, biblical, even personal, all didactic in character) that his purpose was basically the same as in case of his theological treatises. In one of his poems, he states very clearly that his writings have in view not only the people of his time but the future generations as well. We read: “Listen all of you, people of today as well as people of the future.”5 Jean Bernardi is right to observe that, in writing poetry, Gregory had in view the public, in particular his students, as he had an old attraction to teaching.6 In many ways throughout his poetry Gregory states that, while in love with metric verse, he was always careful to put the words in the service of The Word, the divine Logos. No matter how in love with literature he was, 4

Stelianos Papadopoulos, Vulturul ranit: Viata Sfantului Grigorie Teologul [The Wounded Hawk: The Life of Saint Gregory the Theologian], translation from Greek into Romanian by Constantin Coman and Cornel Coman (Bucureúti: Editura Bizantina, 2002), 311–12. 5 See his poem “De Vita Sua” [“On His Own Life”] in Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, Oeuvres poétiques, Poèmes personnels, II, 1 1–11, translated by Jean Bernardi (Paris: Les Belles Lettre, 2004), 59. 6 Ibid., 57.

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his love for the Word of God in the Holy Scripture was stronger. He writes: “But, on the other side I was possessed by the desire for the divine books and by the light of the Spirit which resides in the contemplation of the Word.”7 As Paul Gallay mentions, Gregory had no problem with confessing that he made all his efforts to put the pagan culture of his time in service of the Christian truth, and he started this at an early age. His purpose was to stop the arrogance of those whose science was limited to the vain and useless ability to manipulate words. He himself did not want to be caught by the tricks of their sophistry.8 However, one of the best places where Gregory gives a detailed explanation as to the purposes of his poetry is the poem “On His Own Verses.”9 Here he lists four specific purposes (in particular the second and third) that are not incompatible with the didactical character mentioned above, and implicitly with the idea of legacy. According to Peter Gilbert, the first reason for Gregory’s poetry writing has to do with “his tendency to talk too much,”10 as Gregory himself confesses: “First, by working for others I wished so to subdue my own unmeasuredness; indeed, though I write, I don’t write much when toiling on the meter.”11 Even though this reason appears to not have much to do or at all with legacy, it does if one considers that, while more restraint is implied in verse than in prose, the author has in view other people for whom he actually writes, as the first words of the above citation indicate.

7

Ibid., 70. Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, textes choisis et présentés, par Edmond Devolder, dans la traduction de Paul Gallay (Namur, Belgique: Les editions du Soleil Levant, 1960), 34. 9 See On God and Man: The Theological Poetry of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, translated and introduced by Peter Gilbert (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001), 153; N. B. For those who understand Romanian I highly recommend the translation of this poem by late Archbishop Valeriu Bartolomeu Anania, Metropolitan of Cluj, Alba, Crisana and Maramures (Romania), a celebrated theologian and writer. It is published in Valeriu Anania: Opera literara. Poeme [Valeriu Anania: Literary Works. Poems], preface by Petru Poanta, chronology by Stefan Iloaie (Cluj-Napoca: Limes Press, 2006), 257–8. 10 On God and Man, 13. 11 Ibid., 154. 8

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Also, even if poetry is an ascetical exercise for Gregory when it comes to words and expressing himself, he is aware that he puts every word at the feet and in the service of the Lord, the divine Logos mentioned earlier and, as he himself again testifies: I used to have one love only: the glory of the letters as combined by East and West and by Athens the glory of Greece. For them I suffered a lot and a long time but then I made them to prostrate to the ground before Christ and cede to the Word of the Great God.12

Consequently, even if the first reason indicates that Gregory, in order to contain himself from the temptation of speaking too much, expresses himself in verse, whatever he writes, whether directly or indirectly, has other people in view, and this is part of his legacy. The second reason why Gregory wrote poetry is education, and it is thus directly and visibly related to the intention of leaving a legacy behind. Said briefly, he wants to instruct young or even older people but not fully mature people, to progress in the right way of life and live morally.13 Gregory explains that his verses are intended to be like medical remedies, sort of guides that lead the young reader to the authentic values of life in a sweet form that compensates for the tough form in which the commandments are given: “Secondly, for the young, especially such as [those who] love to read, I’d give this as some kind of cheering medicine, guiding the trustful to things most worthy, sweetening by artful means the commandments’ tartness.”14 The third reason has to do with a certain type of competition between Christians, Orthodox in particular, and either non-Christians or Christian heretics – more precisely Arians and Apollinarians. Pagan intellectuals seem to have pretended that they had a kind of monopoly on the use of Greek language, culture and literary styles. Because spreading a certain doctrine in Greek meter was a practice at the time, Gregory wanted to prove that Christians, and of course he himself, could do 12 In his poem “Sur ses épreuves” [“On His Own Troubles”] in Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 9. See also On God and Man, 13. 13 On God and Man, 14–15. 14 Ibid., 154.

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not only the same thing but make an even a better job of it than anybody else. This is how Gregory puts it: “to see to it that strangers have no advantage over us in literature. For their sake I speak in highly-colored language, even though beauty, for us, is in contemplation.”15 As John McGuckin explains, Gregory wrote his Christian message in poetic form in order “to meet the heretics on their own ground.”16 The fourth reason as to why Gregory wrote poetry, like in the first case, appears not to have a special connection with the idea of legacy. This is because Gregory wrote about poetry as a consolation in the time of his old age when he felt the end coming. This is how he put it: “when stricken with disease, as a consolation: like an aged swan to speak to myself with sibilant wings, not a dirge, but a song of transition.”17 However, there is indication of legacy here as well. First of all, this kind of writing teaches by example how useful it is for one to meditate on their own life, to have an inner dialogue with themselves in the years close to the end of life. And the intention to teach that indicates more directly the idea of legacy is expressed by Gregory right after presenting his fourth reason for writing in verse, in the same poem, “On his Own Verses”: “These very words will teach you if you are willing.”18 These four reasons for writing poetry do not represent an exhaustive list. There are also, for example, apologetic reasons. This justifies the assertion that at least part of Gregory’s poetry is “programmatic,” 19 which means it was written with a precise purpose in mind. McGuckin also indicates apologetic purposes, with Gregory meaning to defend the Orthodox theological positions when it came to confrontations with heretical writings, but also his own image and reputation against his detractors.20 15

Ibid., 154. Saint Gregory of Nazianzen: Selected Poems, translated and with an introduction by John A. McGuckin (Convent of the Incarnation, Fairacres, Oxford: SLG Press, 1995), xix. 17 On God and Man, 155. 18 Ibid., 155. 19 St. Gregory of Nazianzus: Poems on Scripture, translation and introduction by Brian Dunkle, S. J. (Yonkers, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2012), 16–17. 20 John A. McGuckin, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus: An Intellectual Biography (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001), 371, 376. 16

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Another reason indicating Gregory’s intention to leave a legacy behind is found in his autobiographical poem. He writes his poem on his own life in order to present to his contemporaries but also the generations after him the right version of the events he had to go through. This seems to be of particular importance to him as his adversaries were circulating or, in his opinion, were able to circulate all kinds of lies about him. So at least people would have his own story, written by himself, as a reference point. He says: “I am obliged to tell the story of my adventures, starting from an earlier time, even if I have to be too long, so that false allusions could not prevail against us. The malicious people love to have the responsibility of their malicious actions fall on their victims in order to hurt them even more by their lies.”21 In other words, as Paul Gallay shows, Gregory wants to justify himself before his enemies22 and other people, including later generations, which means that the Theologian knew very well what they were saying about him and how they would be able to distort the truth about him in order to advance their own cause. Gregory’s legacy, including the literary one, is confirmed by the fact that Michail Pselos, the renowned eleventh-century Byzantine scholar, considered taking Gregory as a model for rhetorical writing as he believed that Gregory was above Demosthenes in ideas and above Plato in the quality of prose. One more confirmation of this type of legacy comes from the learned sixteenth-century humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam, who was also very impressed by Gregory’s style.23 A proof that Gregory of Nazianzus left a strong legacy behind is the fact that he is “the most cited author, after the Bible, in Byzantine ecclesiastical literature,” as Jacques Noret states.24 In conclusion, it is evident from both internal and external poetical contexts that Gregory of Nazianzus was a very careful writer as he had in mind to leave a clear theological teaching behind, and to make sure that whatever he wrote, including poetry, was in the service of the Christian faith. Consequently, as a Church leader he had in view not only the interest of the Orthodox Christian teaching but also how his personal life and the 21

See “Autobiographie,” in Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 59. Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, 30. 23 Brian E. Daley, Gregory of Nazianzus, 1. 24 Ibid., 2. 22

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interpretation by others of his life might affect the Church that he loved so much, and that he served with utmost dedication. The legacy he left behind is commensurate with such love and dedication.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Gregorio Nazianzeno. Poesie Scelte. Introduzione e Traduzione di Francesco Corsaro. Università di Catania: Centro di Studi Sull’ Antico Cristianesimo, 1957. Gregory Nazianzus. “De se ipso.” In Patrologiae cursus completus, series graeca, vol. 37, edited by Jacques-Paul Migne. Paris, 1862. On God and Man: The Theological Poetry of St. Gregory of Nazianzus. Translated and introduced by Peter Gilbert. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001. Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, Oeuvres Poétiques, Poèmes Personnels, II, 1, 1–11. Texte établi par André Tuilier et Guillaume Bady, traduction et notes par Jean Bernardi. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2004. Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, Poèmes, Lettres, Discours. Textes choisis et presentés par Edmond Devolder dans la traduction the Paul Gallay. Namur, Belgique: Les Editions du Soleil Levant, 1960. Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems. Translated and with an introduction by John A. McGuckin. Convent of the Incarnation, Fairacres, Oxford: SLG Press, 1995. St. Gregory of Nazianzus: Poems on Scripture. Translation and introduction by Brian Dunkle, S. J. Yonkers, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2012. Synésius of Cyrène, Hymnes. Texte etabli et traduit par Christian Lacombrade. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2003. The Early Christian Literature Primers. http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/jackson2/11_gre.html. The Saint Pachomius Library. http://www.voskrese.info/spl/XefremSyria.html. “Apollinaris of Laodicea.” In Academic/Wikipedia. https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/1372756. Benoit, Alphonse. Saint Grégoire de Nazianze. Marseille: Typographie Marius Olive, 1876.

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Bernardi, Jean. St. Grégoire de Nazianze. Le Théologien et son temps. Paris: Les Editions du Cerf, 1995. Biberi, Ion. Poezia, mod de existenаă [Poetry, Way of Existing]. Bucuresti: Editura pentru literatura, 1968. Budge, E. A. (ed.). The Egyptian Book of the Dead. New Yoek: Dover Publications, 1967. Catholic Encyclopedia. https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia. Cloúcă, TincuĠa. “Atitudinea părinĠilor greci ai Bisericii din veacurile II–III faĠă de tradiĠia oratorică” [“The Attitude of the Greek Church Fathers of the Second and Third Centuries Concerning the Oratoric Tradition”]. In Theologia Catholica 56, no. 3–4 (2011): 23. Daley, E., and Brian, S. J. Gregory of Nazianzus. London and New York: Routledge, 2006. Damian, Theodor. Filosofie úi literatură: O hermeneutică a provocării metafizice [Philosophy and Literature: A Hermeneutics of the Metaphysical Challenge]. Bucureúti: FundaĠia România de Maine, 2008. Della Mirandola, Pico. Oration on the Dignity of Man. Chicago: Gateway Edition, Henry Regnery, 1956. Edwards, Preston. “I Will Speak to Those Who Understand: Gregory of Nazianzus’ ‘Carmina Arcana’ 1, 1–24.” http://www.apaclassics.org /AnnualMeeting/02mtg/abstracts/Edwards.html. Florovsky, George. The Eastern Fathers of the Fourth Century, VII. Vaduz: Büchervertriebsanstalt, 1987. Gallay, Paul. La vie de Saint Grégoire de Nazianze. Paris: Emmanuel Vitte, Editeur, 1943. Gilson, Etienne. Christian Philosophy. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1993. Heschel, Abraham. Who Is Man? Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1965. Ionescu, Vasile, and Nicolae Stefanescu. Antologie din literatura patristica greaca a primelor secole [Anthology of Greek Patristic Literature of the First Centuries]. Bucureúti: Editura Institutului Biblic úi de Misiune al Bisericii Ortodoxe Române, 1960.

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