§ 146. письма и стихотворения.

Gregory's letters are among the best works of literature. Not one of them is written carelessly, and almost all are handled masterfully. They are mostly brief, but Gregory believed this to be the merit of writing, meaning, however, the following brevity: “to write laconically does not mean to write few lines, but to be able to say a lot in a little” 604. In one letter, he writes in some detail the rules - how a good letter should be written, and - his letters show that he followed his rules for letters. His letters either sparkle with wit, or amaze with the strength and newness of his thoughts; they are clear, but everything in them is thought-provoking. Not a word about the fact that Gregory could not write about empty objects: but even then, as he writes about ordinary objects, the writing bears the stamp of an educated mind; the language is everywhere processed, but not refined. This is all Gregory demanded from a good letter 605. St. Gregory lived in everything for the truth of Christ, and his song creations were written in the same spirit. During the time of Gregory, youth, as always, loved the inspiration of poetry, especially Greek youth: but examples of poetry were to be sought only in pagan literature alone, in literature defiled by passions and sanctifying errors; During the time of Julian, even this was deprived of Christian youth. There was no doubt that if anything, it was especially the truth of Christ and could excite high inspiration and was worthy of inspiration; and St. Gregory, as he himself writes, “to young people and everyone who most loves verbal art, as if a pleasant healing, gives this attraction in persuasion to the useful.... Instead of songs and playing the lyre, I give you to have fun with poetry... There is nothing completely useless in them; that, if you want, the very verses will confirm you” 606. And indeed, instead of the hymns hitherto sung to the gods, St. Gregory sang hymns to the true God, the Trinitarian; in place of epigrams that bequeathed to posterity names not worthy of memory, he wrote epigrams to the greats of the Christian world; In place of iambs, dedicated to low objects, he wrote iambs, breathing with holy feelings. Another modern circumstance: just as Arius wrote Thalia, and the Macedonians had a testament in verse, Apollinaris wrote a new psalter; and Gregory wrote: “if they (heretics) have long words, - new psalters, disagree with David, and - pleasant verses are revered as the third Testament: then we will sing psalms, and we will write a lot, and we will compose meters” 607. Finally, here is another incentive to practice measured speech: “exhausted by illness, I found joy in poetry, like an elderly swan retelling to itself the sounds of its wings.” For St. Gregory, with the liveliness of his feelings, with severity towards himself, it was a pleasant activity to look around himself, examine the state of his soul, mourn the power of sin and passions. And a significant part of his poems are about himself. Then his bright gaze, peering into the mysterious realm of the Eternal, falling on the world and people and embracing all the emptiness of human desires, aroused in his soul sorrow for people, sometimes a bitter laugh at earthly things, or delved into the joyful deeds of God. His poems are usually divided into three categories 608, dogmatic, moral and historical; Among the latter, the largest part sings about themselves, about their weaknesses, about their sorrows. Naturally, his poems, especially those written in old age, do not all have the same fullness of inspiration: but they are all the fruit of a pure and bright soul; they breathe more life than one would expect from an old man; some should take first place among the best works of creativity. These are, for example: many of his hymns and prayers 609, poems: life 610, virtue, the vanity of life 611. All his measured, brief sayings are distinguished by the power of thought 612. Here is an example of his laconic letter, written on behalf of his mother to Livanius: “I am a mother sending a son to you father, a mother by the rights of nature to the father of eloquence; Just as I took care of him, take care of him too.” Letter 203 (238). A letter with rules for letters written to Nicobulus. Er. 209(19). For the same Nicobulus. In accordance with his request, Gregory himself made a collection of his letters. All letters to St. Gregory according to Russian translation 236. About his poems 6. 91–94. Sl. Socrates. 3.16. Sozom. 5.18. Letter to Ledonius 4. 207. Sl. poems against Apollinaris 5–45–47. Finishing them at Mayo Collect, vet. auct. T. 7. r. 64. This is how they are divided by Min in the last edition of the works of St. Gregory. Evening anthem - from Galland Bibl. T. 5. r. 446; Hymn to God; Hymn to Christ - in Bill T. 2. b. 185. Bill has r. 185. 155–177–79. For translation, see Mayak 1841, part 23, pp. 76–79. There was a lot of debate about the authenticity of the extensive and beautiful poem: Χριστος πασχων; but despite the fact that some of the other poets entered into this work, it should be recognized as the work of St. Gregory: it is attributed to him by Abed-Jesus in his Catalog of Writers. Assem Bibl. Orient. T. 3. P. 1. p. 24. Sl. Augusti. Denkwürdig. Th. 5. S. 342–343. You might be interested in: