§ 151. Характер Григория как богослова.

The church honored St. Gregory, with that high name with which she honored one high among the apostles and evangelists John 635. And it’s not in vain. After the first theologian, St. Gregory was the first to comprehend as many lofty and at the same time precise thoughts the depths of the deity as a person can comprehend them in the light of revelation; especially, his whole thought, like the thought of the first theologian, was turned to the eternal Word. Gregory is the mind (νοῦς), as it was called from ancient times 636: he sees the Infinite. And the sublimity of thoughts that ascend into the interior (as far as it is accessible), the sanctuary of God’s nature, is such a property of the saint. Gregory, which no one possessed, at least to the same extent as Gregory. If he turns to reason in order to destroy the incorrect constructions of reason with its help; then the mind’s idea of ​​the Infinite is always with it; and from this all his reasoning is like the sight of the mind. Reason was used by St. Gregory, to express as accurately as possible the thoughts of revelation about such a mystery as the mystery of the Holy Trinity. Despite the fact that his play of images and expressions is so common everywhere, his words with amazing accuracy express God-inspired thoughts about the Trinitarian. That is why even the most dissenting minds did not dare to argue about the beliefs of St. Gregory, as Rufinus writes 637. The theologian had every right to say to the newly baptized: “if you wrote a confession of faith in the Triune, you disagree with my teaching: come here and let me rewrite it, I write skillfully.” That's why St. Damascene, more than anyone else, was guided by the theologian in his presentation of the faith. The holy theologian, when expounding the dogmas of faith, does not do much philological examination of the sayings of the Holy One. Scriptures. For this the Holy Spirit. The Scriptures are the living beginning of his teaching, and from this spirit he extracts every thought. He thoroughly denounces the audacity of the Eunomians, who sought to enclose the infinite in the forms of logical reason. But he does not exclude reason from theology; only says that in man there is also a mind - a higher power, there is an image of God - an imprint of the properties of God and, therefore, the best source of knowledge about God, although this source in fallen man is rather cloudy 638. In the first word on the theology of St. Gregory, restraining his contemporaries from daring dialectical debates about the Holy Trinity, says: “philosophize about the world or worlds, about matter, about the soul, about rational beings, good or evil, about the Resurrection, about the Judgment, about Christ’s suffering (χριστοῦ παθηματων), in this case it is not useless to achieve the goal and It’s not dangerous to make a mistake.” We would be imposing our opinion on the theologian if we said that, according to his concept, it is as safe to philosophize about the judgment and suffering of Christ as about the world and the soul. He does not say this, but only generally draws the attention of modern thinkers to subjects that they can study with benefit and which they did not study at all, carried away by a subject inaccessible to reason 639. At St. Theodora in the canon for Saturday of cheese week Gregory is the most important theologian; at St. He calls Sophronius “the master of theology” (Photii Bibl. pp. 662–690). Even before that, Nil, or rather Evagrius, a disciple of Gregory himself: εν θεολογια μεγας Γρηγοριος (Cotelerii Monum. graec. eccl. T. 3. p. 198. T. 4. p. 411). At the 7th Ecumenical Council of St. Gregory is called the “co-name of theology” about της θεολογιας επονομος (Acta concit. ed. Binii. T. 3. p. 528–581–636–638–646–654–663–680. Basil, Archbishop of Caesarea in the 10th century, in a letter to the Emperor. To Konstantin: “What could be more pleasant and dearer to you than to see and hear Gregory and the words about Gregory - the mind?” (Bandini Fasciculus rerum eccles. Florentiae. 1763. 8. Praef. ad Op. S. Gregorii. See especially the poem about the soul; letter to Philagry (Ar. Bill. pp. 824–823, and above the doctrine of the soul. Sl. Orat, de fuga sua p. 15. You might be interested in: