Архимандрит Порфирий (Попов) О стихотворениях святого Григория Богослова 914

Many of the holy fathers of the Church, among the arduous and difficult feats of their service to the Church, not only did not neglect poetry, but even themselves, and moreover, in extreme old age, wrote poems, which in their time were read with enthusiasm. These are the saints. Gregory the Theologian, Ephraim the Syrian, Ambrose of Milan, Peacock of Nolan, John of Damascus and others. The poems of some, namely Gregory the Theologian and Ephraim, although in prose translation, have long been published in Russian. It could be expected that admirers of poetic works, who very carefully examine the smallest and most insignificant poems of folk poets, would not ignore the patristic poems, but in numerous articles concerning domestic and foreign literature, there was not even a mention of these works of the holy fathers. It is obvious that our writers agree with Schlegel’s old remark, which reads this way: “The experiments in original Christian poetry were, of course, successful in the lyrical form, in songs and hymns, but the most extensive experiments, aimed at the poetic presentation of Christianity, were always unsuccessful and always remained a dead labor of mechanical composition or, in other words, a metrical vestment, devoid of the inner life and spirit of true poetry” 915 . No matter how strict this review is, it still recognizes the artistic merit of the lyrical patristic poems. Consequently, even with such a judgment about them, it cannot but seem surprising why none of the historians of poetry honored them with any analysis, while laudable and sometimes enthusiastic reviews can be found in every secular magazine, even on the occasion of anthological 916 meaningless poems. The thought that Gregory the Theologian was a spiritual poet could not dissuade him from this work. And a secular writer cannot treat true works of art without sympathy simply because they have spiritual content. Reading such poems is one of the necessary conditions for reviving religious feelings. Be that as it may, we think that true admirers of poetry will not consider it unnecessary and useless to take a closer look at the poems of Gregory the Theologian, and in this hope we offer to the attention of impartial readers this analysis and review of these poems. In his poems, Gregory the Theologian, although briefly but clearly, expresses a certain view of the purpose of poetry. Therefore, in order to fully and accurately determine the nature of his poems, it is necessary to first consider his view of poetry, and then review both the content of his poems and the way in which this content is revealed. Gregory's view of literature in general and poetry in particular rose above the then dominant theory of Aristotle. He strongly condemns vain and empty eloquence, which consists of loud speech and euphony, often rebels against the counterfeitness of the word and values ​​eloquence not for the art of proving various thoughts in relation to circumstances, but for the fact that in persons who have this gift, language, hearing, and quick thought do not lag behind each other, and also because these persons can vividly and strongly be penetrated by objects worthy of human knowledge, and this penetration produce in others. And in the time of Gregory the Theologian, reproaches of poetry were heard, and he knew people who called the exercise of poetry criminal human-pleasing and works only for the sake of vanity. To refute such unjust reproaches, he wrote a poem about poetry, and here he sufficiently explained both the motives for which he devoted himself to exercises of this kind, and his view of poetry. Here it is. “...I chose a different way of speaking, I think, a good one, at least pleasant for me: I decided to convey my mental works in poetry. Not, as many mortals may think, in order to gain, as they say, vain glory in an easy way; on the contrary, I knew that my poetry would be condemned, producing it out of a desire to please people, for many people judge the actions of others by their own. And not because I prefer versification to sacred works. May the Divine word not retreat so far from me! You are wondering why I started writing poetry. Firstly, I wanted, while working for others, to tie up my sinfulness in this way and, while writing, to write a little, developing a verse. Secondly, for young men and for those who most love verbal art, I wanted to offer a pleasant healing, to give attractiveness to beliefs in the useful, sweetening the bitterness of the commandments with art. Sometimes the sound of a string has healing power if you want healing. If you wish, let poetry be yours instead of singing and the lyre: I gave them to you for fun, if you want to have fun. Thirdly, through difficult experiences I learned that this matter, apparently of little importance, is in fact not easy, and, not wanting alien writers to surpass us in words, I began to speak in the same form of speech, although we have an advantage in contemplation... Fourthly, in poetry I found consolation in illness, like an elderly swan, retelling to myself the broadcasts of the flapping 917 wings, not a lamentable but original song. Listen to these songs, you sages who are not alien to us. Let it be known to you that in the Holy Scriptures much is set out in verse, as Jewish scholars assure. Saul, freed from the evil spirit by the sounds of David’s lyre, will convince you of this. What harm do you find if through pious pleasure young men are brought into communion with the Divine? A sudden change in morals is inconvenient for them; Let a benevolent gradualism be observed towards them, and over time, when honesty is strengthened in them, we will preserve the good. What could be more fruitful than such a course of action? 918 Judging by some of the expressions of this poem, one might think that Gregory delivers poetry only in measured 919 speech and, it seems, deprives it of independent meaning, humiliating it to a service means of moral goals. He says that measured speech serves as a lesson and pleasure, in a word, as a pleasant instruction, and that “by writing poetry, he wanted to give attractiveness to convictions in the useful, sweetening the bitterness of the commandments with art.” The enemies of didacticism, admirers of the so-called absolute art, according to which it is a goal in itself, will, of course, be offended by the fact that Gregory wrote poetry to instruct others in the truths of faith or activity. But in the same poem, Gregory says about himself: “In poetry I found joy, like an elderly swan, retelling to myself the broadcasts of the flapping wings, not a lamentable, but the original song.” These words contain a sufficient explanation of what is said in praise of poetry. They are completely unambiguous in the meaning of Goethe’s famous verse: Ich singe, wie der Vogel singt, Der in den Zweigen wohnet 920 . In this explanation and limitation one cannot help but see a necessary and reasonable reconciliation of extremes - imaginary absolute art and exceptional, too intrusive didacticism. Of course, it is true that beauty, in the naive expression of one of our writers, is the sister of truth and goodness, and therefore to subordinate it and condemn it to slavish servility of the latter will be contrary to the rights of such a close relationship. But all these equally essential needs of our spirit do not actually exist as detached from one another as admirers of their independence are accustomed to imagine; truth and goodness never argue with each other like sisters who are too jealous about preserving their rights. In the pursuit of one of the main and highest needs of the soul, all the forces of our spirit must take (and for the most part take) an active part, and in this participation they see, as it were, the satisfaction of their own requirements. Therefore, if Gregory expects and demands instruction from poetry, this does not prove in him a one-sided and incorrect understanding of the purpose and purpose of poetry. And the newest poets agree to retain for her the ancient title of teacher of nations, and later theorists allow poets in their works to actually fulfill the words of Horace about poets: “Prodesse volunt, lectorem delectando pariterque monendo” 921. Schiller himself, an ardent admirer of the truly beautiful, gives a place in poetic works to instructions when he advises poets, when depicting their heroes, to surround the latter with noble, great forms and protect them on all sides with symbols of the excellent until the ghost surpasses essentiality, art - nature. He considered all this a valid means to banish frivolity and all other moral shortcomings from the lives of his contemporaries. And that one of our poets who so sarcastically responds to those who demand moral instructions from poetry: Go away - who cares Feel free to turn to stone in depravity, The voice of the lyre will not revive you! 922 – and this poet, in these very expressions of contempt for the vicious, offers the most lively and convincing morality, and in other poems he expresses instructions even more directly. One cannot help but remember that the wondrous and, as they sometimes say, divine Plato, despite his veneration of beauty regardless of truth and goodness, condemned Homer, although he called him the greatest poet, for the fact that his poetry did not in the least contribute to the improvement of public and private life. Like all these thinkers, St. Although Gregory the Theologian demanded didacticism from poetic works, he fully comprehended the intrinsic meaning of poetry, according to which its works, presenting truth in appearance and without moral lessons, are as delightful and natural for us as singing for a bird. Perhaps others will consider the restriction according to which St. Gregory seems to represent poetry as important and necessary only for young people and those who most love verbal art, as if the beautiful lies outside our universal and essential needs. But here he is not talking about how it should be, but about how it actually is. In this last respect, his limitation is both true and very natural: not everyone has a developed aesthetic sense. And for a sensual, undeveloped taste, something that a more refined taste cannot boast of may seem unpleasant. Moreover, Gregory, saying that measured speech serves as a lesson and pleasure for young people, opposes young people to himself; on this basis, one can even say that he means here primarily the ages of spiritual life. For those who have reached the highest spiritual age, poetry really does not have such essential importance and meaning as it has for those just beginning spiritual life. A great Christian ascetic, an angel in the flesh, in whom everything that is humanly lofty and perfect is perceived by a pure mind and has already passed into practical life, such an ascetic must obviously already thirst for spiritual, mysterious communication with God and can say, as Basil the Great says in one place: “Arts are befitting of reptiles on the earth.” At the same time, the mere fact that such a zealot for the highest moral perfection is engaged in poetry speaks much more strongly about its high dignity than all its enthusiastic panegyrists. Whoever condemns himself only to those activities that bring significant benefit, and therefore extends his deprivations to such an extent that he refuses to use the word itself for the whole Lent 923, would he begin to subject himself to the difficult labors of posture and size if he considered these activities only child's play? We must not forget that, speaking about the dignity of poetry, Gregory had the main goal of protecting his poems from censure, which belong to the types of lyrical poetry, therefore, the kind that is not yet accessible to the highest form of beauty. It can be assumed that he attributed the highest dignity to other types of poetic works, in which, as theorists say, the general and the particular, unity and diversity, freedom and necessity are more easily reconciled. So Gregory, in his poem about the dignity and purpose of poetry, attributes to it exactly as much meaning and importance as it deserves. But a correct understanding of the requirements of art for the most part entails perfection of execution. Is this true in the present case? Almost all of Gregory the Theologian’s poems belong to lyric poetry, and one of them, precisely the one in which he retells his life, has the appearance of a drama, with the exception of some places of a narrative tone. Gregory's lyrical poems are mostly lively and imbued with a deep feeling of reflection about himself, about the vanity and unfaithfulness of human life in general, about the strong and insidious enemies of man, known in theological language under the names of the flesh, the world and the devil, about some dogmas of the holy faith and Christian virtues. The poet himself gives some of his poems the names of hymns, prayers, mysterious chants or songs, messages and conversations 924. Lyrical poetry is called subjective and its content is provided only by feelings, so that there is nothing to retell or interpret, and the dignity of its works is judged most of all only by the musicality of the sound; Therefore, works rich in thoughts in the language of such poetry theorists are called pseudo-lyrical. Of course, it is not difficult to see that such an understanding of lyric poetry will be answered, in addition to hymns, only by small, meaningless anthological poems, which in fact are cited as an example by such legislators of lyricism. For such people, one indication of positive teaching is the best proof of the absence of poetry. For all this, when analyzing the poems of Gregory the Theologian, it is necessary to say a few words in defense of the content chosen by the poet. The general content of poetry, in a more general opinion, consists of the truths of inner spiritual life, that is, ideas about the basic powers of the spirit, its highest needs, internal states, goals and means; only she (poetry) represents them in actions, events and characters. And heartfelt faith in the truths of religion, the meaning of real life and the final purpose of man, of course, belong to this kind of truths. Therefore, it is illegal to deprive lyrical poetry, as one of the three types of poetry, of the general content of poetry, otherwise it cannot be its type. It is true that in this case the question naturally arises: can the lyricist, in accordance with the requirements of poetry, present this content, abstractly conceived, as living, this general as individual, and this internal as external? It would be unfair to answer this question in the negative. Each abstract general thought, which has passed into consciousness through prolonged deep reflection and perceived by the heart, turned into a conviction, becomes such an asset for us that the most insignificant attacks on it, the slightest disbelief in it, are unpleasant, painful and painful for us. All the more so should this be said about the truths of religion, due to their close connection with present and future well-being. Writers known for their piety, which, of course, everyone will agree, are distinguished by such a strong love for the professed truths of faith that constant reflection on these truths constitutes the sweetest food for their hearts and that therefore the strength and sublimity of their feelings goes hand in hand with the firmness and clarity of rational conviction. If our faith is heartfelt, imbued with deep feeling, then private truths or dogmas of faith can and should naturally take life, strength and reverent delight from the heart’s perception of them. The most important requirement in relation to a lyric poet is that, even at the time when he speaks about himself, he speaks about the general, about what belongs to the nature of humanity, or that his personality seems to contain everything that should be in an individual person, but alien to everything that may or may not be or what should not be. Indeed, he should try not to get special attention from him, but to put others on the same point as himself, from which everyone could see much that is true, beautiful and interesting. This is exactly what the content of Gregory’s poems appears to be when reviewed in detail and attentively. They contain the most perfect example of what thoughts should primarily occupy the Christian mind in real life and how to emerge victoriously from the struggle with various spiritual thoughts. Turning his gaze to himself, the poet reveals a lot of secrets and incomprehensible to his mind, notices a strong struggle in his desires, discoveries of sensuality that constrain the high flight of his spirit, many temptations that threaten the soul with disastrous danger from the enemies of salvation. For all this, he recognizes earthly life as difficult and vain, but at the same time he puts up with his life because he vividly imagines the Divine providence about the fate of each person, and also because he is animated by the expectation of heavenly joys and blissful communion with the Most Holy Trinity, to whose glory his entire truly ascetic life was dedicated. His love for the Lord is so alive and strong that a few minutes spent in the company of idle and vanity-loving people, unfamiliar with the pursuits of God, give rise to deep sadness in him. True to this view of life, in his spiritual life, conveyed in poems, he presents the clearest example of constant walking before God, morning and evening, in illness and on the way, appearing before the face of the Lord with songs of praise and prayer, with cries of heartfelt contrition for his slightest stumblings, with a touching request for His help in all his affairs and in the hymn itself, as well as with expressions of fiery the desire to contemplate Him not only with the eyes of faith, but also face to face. Let us also remember that questions about the Holy Trinity in the 4th century especially occupied the entire Christian world and Ecumenical Councils were established to resolve them, and that the zealots of Orthodoxy were still threatened by persecution, imprisonment, exile and death itself. Let us not forget that the defenders of false teaching resorted to the help of poetry: Arius wrote the Thalia, the Macedonians translated the New Testament into measured speech, and Apollinaris composed some of his own psalms. So, according to the demands of modern times, it was necessary to appear such “mysterious hymns” about God [the Father], the Word and the Spirit, which Gregory wrote. As a shepherd of the Church, he took a very active part in matters of faith, and therefore his deep sympathy for modern issues was naturally expressed in his poems. In addition, church history reports that in the 4th century ascetics became especially famous with their strict virginal solitary life and all the best preachers dedicated several words of praise to them; and this shows how modern were Gregory’s poems about monks, about virginity, about the vanity of life, the comparison of worldly life with spiritual life, etc. Finally, if we are only wanderers and strangers here and our fatherland is in heaven, then what sounds should be emitted and expressed by the lyre of poets, if not the sounds of sorrow and chants about the disasters of earthly wandering? The response of the captive Jews to the Babylonians at least speaks in favor of these thoughts (see Ps. 136). In all such cases, even if the poet speaks about himself and expresses his feelings, they are completely alien to personal exclusivity, and no one can remain indifferent and cold to his feelings, unless he is extremely inattentive to his duty and purpose. But it is not theoretical considerations alone that assure us that the content chosen by Gregory is accessible to poetic expression. The very analysis of the poems, the study of how Gregory fulfilled the more general requirements of theorists or critics regarding the image of poetic expression and the revelation of truth, inevitably leads to the same thought. It is sometimes required of lyrical works that they begin with the image of strong delight, be full of rapid transitions, show some disorder in arrangement, etc. But to determine the merit of performing lyrical works according to such theories is to limit them to very narrow limits of monotony, and in the case of actual subjection of the lyrics to such rules, it will be necessary to extol with praise those odes in which the initial delight is replaced by cold and general exclamations. In relation to Gregory’s poems, it must be said in advance that he does not have this enthusiasm of beginnings, nor quick impulses, but also does not have empty false recitation; but in his chants one can, as it were, contemplate in reality the victorious struggle of heartfelt faith with cold reason and such a reconciliation of the claims of the latter with the rights of the former, in which nothing of the actual rights is taken away from either one or the other. В этом смысле, можно сказать, решаются иногда и отвлеченные вопросы; but this decision is left to the heart that passionately loves the truth and recognizes it in exact and close likenesses, in living pictures and images, and only occasionally allows rational research, and only to refute well-known sophistry, such sophistry that has become the subject of domestic conversations and market disputes. Where the mind does not clearly understand the inner possibility of what the [God] revealed teaching conveys, the poet recognizes the legitimacy of his claims to clarification, but, preceded by a feeling of reverence for the inscrutable greatness of God, he at the same time recognizes the need for incomprehensible mysteries in the teaching about God, tries to present the truth of dogmas in images taken from created nature, but is not satisfied even quite their close correspondence and, finally, fixes the reader’s gaze and thoughts on a living reminder of what is said in various places of Scripture about the properties and actions of the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, even those poems that are inscribed “On the Principles”, “On the Son”, “On the Holy Spirit” cannot in any way be called “dead work of mechanical composition” or “metrical vestments”, devoid of the inner life and spirit of true poetry; rather, these are the most perfect examples of high lyrical works, very similar to the Old Testament psalms, only the latter’s own imagery in the former is replaced by the form of unexpected, but picturesque similarities and comparisons. And these similarities, due to their special vividness, expressiveness and clarity, so erase the difference between the internal and the external, between the explainer and the explained, that the mind, satisfied with the explanation of truth through analogy, does not want to reveal the hidden, to separate the connected, and after this the truth is easily perceived by the sensory idea, soon turns into a heartfelt conviction, from here it again receives life-giving power to protect itself from the attacks of sophistry and, thus Thus, it inseparably satisfies all three needs of the soul, that is, the desire for truth, goodness and beauty. The justice of these words can be understood even more if we recall those phenomena of mental life when people, imbued with a reverent feeling, are more confirmed in the truth, for example, the immortality of the soul through the contemplation of images of the resurrection in the spring revival of the smallest insects and the vegetation of plants, than by rational evidence. To explain this situation, a lot can be served by the fact that writers with a mystical “trend” usually love to look for images of the invisible, spiritual world in the most physical objects and are extremely delighted with such convergences. Agreeing with this, we must admit that similarities or comparisons in poetic, especially lyrical, works cannot be considered alien to poetic imagery and that, on the contrary, pictorial comparisons have the dignity of not only a pleasant, entertaining, but also a truly beautiful, artistic expression of truth. It may seem that if poetic imagery is attributed to similarities, then through this the works of poetry will be mixed with oratorical ones. But this fear is in vain, at least in relation to the poems of Gregory the Theologian. The power of feeling, prevailing over calm reflection, turning to oneself, to one’s heart, the detailed vividness of the images, the lack of scientific order in the presentation of thoughts sharply distinguish the most dogmatic poems of Gregory the Theologian from simple oratory. Even his songs about the world, Providence and the soul, which according to previous poems could most likely be classified as philosophical odes, are alien to abstraction and scientific logical or systematic order in the presentation of thoughts. Touching upon the philosophical and Manichaean misconceptions about these subjects that are still too alive in the minds of the people, St. Gregory overthrows these misconceptions with more popular proverbs and contrasts their extreme absurdities with living personifications of biblical legends. The poem “About Intelligent Entities” is especially striking in the artistry of its images. Both the closeness of the Angels to the highest Light, and the possibility of fall that originally existed in them, and the evil brought into the world by the fallen angels, with a poetic view, found corresponding pictures for themselves in visible nature 925. And Gregory’s song “On the Testaments and the Coming of Christ” sheds clear light on the history of the Jews and is a reverently living recognition of Divine providence for the human race 926. True, the poet in one of his dogmatic poems himself uses the expression “Thus I proved to you the Divinity of the Spirit” 927. But what was said above in this poem does not have the slightest form of proof, so here it is quite possible to say that the poet is the more a poet the less he strives for this goal. Even if this place is called oratorical persuasion, what is most noticeable here is not so much the desire to convince others as the sincerity of the poet’s own conviction and that simple-heartedness that involuntarily acts on our heart and contains as much poetry as the instructive conversations of fiery fatherly love or the sincere advice of a faithful and beloved friend. All the general remarks made so far seemed necessary for the defense of the strictly dogmatic or, as the poet himself calls them, “mysterious chants.” But in the rest of the lyrical poems of St. Gregory, no critic, even if he is the most picky or short-sighted in his judgments, can fail to see true artistic merit or, what is the same, the perfect fulfillment of all the conditions and requirements of lyric poetry. What shines through most clearly in these works are the highest lyrical perfections, especially the power of feeling, the detailed picturesqueness of the images and the extraordinary art of satirically exposing the sophistry of those indifferent to good. It is worth talking about each of these properties separately. Poetic animation depends most of all on the firmness of conviction, on the clarity of presentation and on the greatness of the depicted object. Lack of firmness in striving for a definite and worthy goal is the reason that secular poets often lack true inspiration when they depict truly sublime things; on the contrary, it also happens that their strongest and deepest feelings seem feigned and empty, because they are excited by objects and desires of personal exclusivity, in which a more true view does not see anything worthy and important. But communion with God is the only highest goal, the desire for which St. Gregory the Theologian, and on the path to which he naturally encountered a strong obstacle in the form of human infirmities and opposition from the enemies of salvation. Therefore, as a truly zealous servant of this goal, whether the poet turns his gaze to God, or to himself, or to the world, he with true humility depicts the inscrutable greatness of the Creator, with heartfelt tenderness he asks for His help on all the paths of his life, as they usually ask for something without which they are not aware of the possibility of living; with deep sorrow he speaks about his powerlessness and his weaknesses - as they usually complain when they vividly recognize themselves as the culprits of their own great misfortunes and disasters; with strong chagrin he reproduces before himself the hostile opposition of the enemies of spiritual perfection - just as one is generally offended by unfair claims to take away that in which the heart finds its only pleasure and contentment. Thus, the poems of St. Gregory the Theologian, both in their beginning they directly proceed from a strong and deep feeling, and in their continuation and ending they are imbued with and enlivened by the same feeling. Most often they turn into a prayerful cry of a suffering soul; but with all the repetition of these feelings, the unity of the object that evokes prayer, this cry always takes on a variety of expressions - sometimes touching tenderness, sometimes deep humility, sometimes firm faith and filial trust, never diminishes in its strength and itself reminds of the words of another famous poet: “We are born for inspiration, for sweet sounds and prayers” 928. No less than in prayer, the energy and strength of feeling find expression in complaints about one’s own coldness of heart, however, in the previous 929 poetic depiction of human nature, such a strong feeling is clearly visible, which, with the predominance of reason and with less development of the heart, can even appear as sentimentality. Often the strength of feeling is expressed in great indignation at the insignificance of objects that deceive the human heart; at the same time, the speech naturally takes on the form of reproachful censure, for example: “Everything here - laughter, fluff, shadow, ghost, rose, blow, feather, steam, sleep, wave, stream, ship’s trace, wind, dust, circle, forever spinning, and motionless and spinning, and collapsing and unchangeable” 930, etc. St. Gregory also speaks of real life in the following way: “To mortals everything difficult, wealth is false, the throne is the arrogance of the dreamer, being in subjection is painful, poverty is bonds, beauty is a short-term flash of lightning, youth is a temporary boil, gray hair is the mournful sunset of life, words are volatile, glory is air, nobility is old blood, strength is the property of a wild boar, insolent satiety, marriage is a yoke, having many children is a necessary care, childlessness is illness, inactivity relaxes, other people's bread is bitter; in a word, there is no good for people that is not mixed with evil, there are many paths, many miserable lives, and at every step they encounter their own sorrows” 931. This is not a collection of words, but the ordinary language of an offended heart, which strives in the shortest names of an object to express all its properties and all shades of thoughts and, with their total sum, satisfy the requirements of feeling 932. Sometimes the poet, with a special kindling of the heart, makes appeals to abstract and spiritual objects, presenting them as if animated and visible, but these appeals, with the poet’s exceptional zeal for virtue, are completely alien to the usual unnaturalness and coldness of others; such, for example, is the personification of virginity and marriage, worldly and spiritual life, as well as a complaint about demonic temptations. This is how the last personification is read in poems against the evil one: “I cry to God. What is this? Run away from me quickly, run away, you evil beast, murderer! Why are you bothering me without suffering any offense? Go into your swine and fill the depths; they are ready to receive you, who have plunged into the abyss. But do not touch me, otherwise I will depose you with a cross: before his power, everyone is horrified and trembles with fear”; “Get away, get away from me, you hostile murderer! Move away, terrible ghost, furious anger! Move away! I have Christ in my heart: I brought my soul as a gift to Him. Give up on me and run away quickly! Oh! Help me, Representative Angels! Oh! A torturer and a thief approaches me; I beg you, friends, deliver me from him!”; “You came and came to me, angry, but stopped. As soon as I noticed the smoke, I guessed that there would be fire. A strong stench is a clear sign of a serpent. And I will raise the cross. He is the guardian of my life, he connects the whole world and brings it to God. Fear the cross, go away, don’t appear again...” 933. In our time, perhaps, such a strong complaint against the demon-tempter may even seem strange to many, but the truth of the appearance of evil spirits among ascetics, with their vigilant attention to themselves, has been raised to an apodictically 934 obvious axiom, and St. Gregory the Theologian, of course, does not falsely say about himself that he himself cast out demons; therefore, there is nothing unnatural when with such a complaint he drives away the devil from himself and, in order to drive him away, asks for the intercession of the holy Angels. Another distinctive property of Gregory’s poems is picturesqueness, that is, such detail in the images that, with a full visual representation of all particular aspects of thought, is completely alien to excess and tediousness, which, even with the vastness of the images, knows how to maintain concise and strong expressions. Especially in this case, one can cite as an example the depiction of the vanity of human life, the benefits and disadvantages of marriage, the errors of paganism and pagan spectacles, as well as the depiction of oppression by the rich and the deep devotion to Gregory of his Constantinople flock. Thus, when depicting the bustle of human life, the poet first paints a picture of the contentment and happiness of well-known animals 935, and then, in contrast, presents the phenomena of the past life of humanity 936 and the dissatisfaction of high human desires in this life. Therefore, after reading such a poem, the reader’s soul remains with the clearest idea that we are not at home here, not in our fatherland, and that our life is not at all what it should be, despite the assurances of extreme progressives. Meanwhile, one addition - “God did not create me in vain” 937 - does not allow us to languish with joyless and hopeless sorrow. At the same time, Lermontov’s famous poem “Both Boring and Sad” naturally comes to mind, praising which, following Belinsky, the critics exhausted all their eloquence; when compared with Gregory's poems about the vanity of life, it seems to be nothing more than the weak work of a pathetic dreamer. This is especially because Lermontov’s poem speaks only of that disappointment that occurs with apathetic satiety with objects of passionate desire or which is generated by failure in the adventures of external affection; This is the only reason why the author calls life an empty and stupid joke. This is not how he portrays the bustle of St. life. Gregory: he bitterly mourns universal human disasters, but at the same time completely submits to God's Providence. And what strong, impressive and bold expressions do St. Gregory, this can be judged by the lines in which, after depicting human weakness and mortality, he exclaims: “The same dust is both King Constantine and my servant; and the proud have one advantage, that the cry above them is louder, their tomb is more magnificent, and the gravestone inscription is kept longer on the pathetic stone” 938. Truly, one can find few examples where the inner struggle of a person with himself, the struggle of his flesh with the spirit and the vanity of his real life are revealed in such detail, vividly and fascinatingly, as is done in the poems of St. Gregory the Theologian. The special care of other poets for the reconciliation of the sensuous with the spiritual most of all advocates for the rights of the former and easily falls into the extreme of Epicureanism, which is unable to see the hostile opposition of sensuality to the spirit and is too compliant in its favor; At the same time, secular poets, fearing didacticism, try to idealize all the demands of sensuality and present them in a seductive form, but the consequence of this is more often that the one who trusts this idealization quickly falls into the lowest sphere of gloomy reality, due to the natural inability of the heavy to stay above 939. Therefore, the most apologetic depiction of low and unworthy objects, especially its external liveliness, is obviously inappropriate in truly high works of art. Vividly aware of this truth, St. Gregory could not be more free from all such shortcomings. It may be said that, taking care of the details of the images, Gregory does not always fulfill all the requirements for the imagery of poetic expression. But if in some poems true poetic imagery is replaced by a selection of similarities, detailed indications of opposite objects or states, then this is done so cleverly and beautifully that here we see both external objects of nature in their living reality, and their clear indication of the highest spiritual truths, which is very close to their own imagery. Such, for example, is the revelation of the unnaturalness of our condition through the depiction of the welfare of animals, an indication of the duty of love of parents to their children and the duty of chastity through the presentation of examples of such concern for these qualities, noticeable in irrational animals. Here the poet most apparently tries to depict these external objects vividly, but at the same time clarifies his own idea. This is the poem “Poems about myself, in which St. Gregory the Theologian in a hidden way encourages us to life in Christ" 940. The true poetic imagery, noticeable everywhere in this poem, can be said to be the best, most visual proof of how poetic images, in their own vividness, speak much more about the hidden idea being depicted, much more satisfy the aesthetic sense than the precise and direct designation of an idea, as if some theme in oratorical works. Thus, Gregory’s descriptions unusually combine their inherent advantages: external liveliness of presentation, proportionate detail, and the art of reproducing what is more important in reality; art is especially important because it is unable to admire insignificant objects and clothe a poor and seductive thought in a rich form. In this regard, especially remarkable are the description of the storm that happened during his voyage, the description of two maidens he saw in a dream, who personified purity and virginity, the vision of the church of Anastasia and the characteristics of angry people. Many of Gregory's poems, at least in some parts, are comic and satirical in nature. At the same time, depending on the nature of human weaknesses, the poet either quietly and lovingly exposes the funny side of unreasonable actions, for example, passion for clothes, or, in a fit of strong indignation, pursues with the most cruel, caustic and sharp reproaches those who despise the sacred and clearly violate the rights of their neighbors: such, for example, is the satire on Maxim. “This is the spirit of the times,” Gregory writes here, “everyone dares to do anything; Like mushrooms, wise men, military leaders, nobles, and bishops suddenly run out of the ground. What comes out of this? Virtue is humiliated and insolence goes unpunished. Apparently, some laurel branch also drove you into a frenzy? What incredible and previously unheard of news! Saul is among the prophets, Maxim is among the writers. Who will hold back his hand after this? Everyone has paper and a cane; and old women can speak, write, and gather people around them. Do you dare write? Tell me: where and from whom did you learn? Whose hand is this gift of writing? Yesterday speeches were for you what a lyre is for a donkey, a sea wave is for an ox, and a yoke is for a sea animal. Now you are our Orpheus, who sets everything in motion with his fingers. It’s true that such courage was breathed into you by your old nannies, your assistants, who wrote speeches together with you” 941. Even more skillfully, the ascetic poet exposes the sophistry of the rich who oppressed the poor, but who meanwhile justify themselves with a strange indication that there are people worse than them. “Whatever your neighbor has,” Grigory writes to a rich man like Plyushkin, “is a nail in your eye. Slander is also ready to help your hands. You are the poor man's lender and soon afterwards his tormentor. He faces torture and chains. You call him a friend to the sea robber, and complain about him because his ox once offended your oxen. What kind of insult is this, tell me? The ox of such and such a poor man, you complain, shouted too loudly and seemed to be challenging him to a fight, or had already defeated your ox. And the shadow from his trees, falling on your trees, harms them. And his boy walked across your field. And you present witnesses, and his ox, and the boy, and the garden disappear. You also say: “I am enriching myself unrighteously, but others have seized entire nations and cities into their power,” and then you immediately resort to examples to cover up your wounds. To this I want to tell you one fable, a fable that is very fitting for your false thinking. Someone laughed at the owl. And the owl dodged every ridicule with a clever answer. “What a head you have!” - they told her. - “And what about Diya!” - she answered. - “What bright eyes!” - “Exactly like the light-eyed one.” - “The voice is dissonant!” - “And the magpie’s is even more discordant.” - “And the legs are thin!” - “What do the starlings look like to you?” But, having easily reflected all this, no matter how smart the owl was, it concedes in one thing. They say to her: “Just judge, smart one, everyone has one thing, but you have everything together and everything in excess: your eyes are bright, your voice is rough, your legs are thin, and your head is large.” And the dear owl, having heard this, went away in shame. And you won’t get even that from you; on the contrary, the bird in the fable is much smarter than you. Everything is in one thing - that’s your trouble” 942. Such comedy in the poem by St. Gregory, of course, was a useful healer of spiritual ailments. The satire on bishops should also be classified as one of these poems, but it is much inferior to all other poems by Gregory. Here complaints are made about the lust for power, deceit, self-will and ignorance of the bishops in the harshest terms 943. Finally, another poem worth special attention is in which St. Gregory retells his life 944. Here the poet sets himself the goal of depicting his own misfortunes in the order of their actual discovery and depicts all this in many places extremely dramatically. His own life, in his opinion, was like a tragic struggle: initially - his long-standing heartfelt desire with the demands of his friend and spiritual children, and then - pastoral zeal for Orthodoxy with the deceit of the non-Orthodox. There is, of course, no creative choice of content here; here the real life of the poet is depicted, but there is a truly artistic execution of the work. And the brilliant worldly poets (contrary to the opinion of the nihilists known in the history of poetry) borrowed most of the content of their creations from folk legends, or the actual history of past times, or their own experience. This is essentially not much different from depicting one's own life when it represents poetic content. Given the usual demand from tragedy for terrible and soul-shattering collisions, Gregory’s misfortunes, of course, may seem too small and unimportant for a tragic picture to be created from their mutual connection. The very sorrow of Gregory, with which his poem is saturated, others, perhaps, will call a consequence of excessive sensitivity. Is it true; whoever is accustomed to respecting collisions only in matters of knightly honor or external affection will not find anything akin to him here and will even, perhaps, be bored when reading this poem. But the one who does not consider humility a weakness, who does not dare to devote himself to high church service before strict preliminary self-examination, who is convinced of the high importance of the hierarchical rank and who, finally, clearly understands the high significance in the matter of justification before God of the holy and right faith, he will easily understand how natural and just this deep sorrow that the saint attributes to himself. Gregory the Theologian when he was entrusted with pastoral responsibilities and when non-Orthodox people took hostile actions against him, and therefore he could not help but sympathize with him from the bottom of his heart. It would be long ago, it seems, time to understand that those terrible collisions in which the poetic imagination presents to us, for example, Macbeth, Richard, Othello, arouse in us disgust only for grave and loud crimes, revealed in all the extremes of their development, but at the same time make us too lenient towards our daily moral transgressions and ignoble, selfish desires; meanwhile, who does not know that, according to the indispensable requirement of religion, we should not consider these latter to be unimportant and should not be indifferent to them. Consequently, the poetic depiction of such strict moral vigilance, according to which high degrees of public service are feared as the most serious misfortunes, and the most momentary internal stumblings and falls are deeply lamented, should be of essential importance to everyone. In dramatic works, they look for a particularly vivid outline of the characters of both the main character and the persons in contact with him. Gregory’s poem about his life satisfies this requirement perfectly. Conveying his own life (more spiritual, internal), those sorrowful thoughts and feelings that were generated by an unexpected elevation to the highest church degrees, St. Gregory not only introduces readers well to himself, but at the same time gives a lively, faithful description of his parents, friend, Emperor Theodosius, and especially the cynic Maxim. In addition to this main content, in episodic paintings the poet presents a picturesque depiction of the contemporary state of the churches and the heresies that were especially outrageous at that time, as well as the acts of the Second Ecumenical Council. According to all this, the poem in question by St. Gregory about his life, both in its overall completeness or wholeness, and in parts, seems to be a truly poetic work. From this point of view, we cannot discover either excess or deficiency in Gregory’s entire creation. The poet apparently and deliberately keeps silent about many circumstances of his life only in order to present his life as more pitiful and sorrowful. Thus, he slightly hints at the wonderful or joyful adventures of his life, but immediately avoids mentioning this in detail. And the very end of the poem cannot be considered inconsistent with the main idea or goal of the poet. Although St. Gregory presents his sincere, constant and strong desire to devote himself to the desert contemplative life as crowned and fulfilled, but this in no way reconciles our hearts with the injustice of those who demoted him from the bishop’s chair, as well as with the gloating and false rumors of his enemies on this occasion. In general, the poem is a constant combination of an epic story with dramatic monologues, picturesque paintings with various heartfelt thoughts, general edifying reflections with personal and deep feelings. In particular, the gradual development of the insidious plan of the false bishop Maxim is revealed absolutely correctly in terms of psychological, as well as vividly and tactfully for the senses; here one can find a sharp satirical depiction of Maxim’s hypocrisy, and at the same time good-natured condescension towards his weaknesses, and inspired indignation at his dishonorable solicitation of the archbishop’s throne. Therefore, although in this description there is no mention of corpses, or blood, or daggers, or poison - almost always the attributes of tragedy, but, nevertheless, the attempt to make the highest and most sacred title the object of one’s self-interest and ambition, this attempt is presented as very outrageous and offensive to a heart imbued with due reverence for the shrine. The speech that the poet puts into the mouth of his parent, despite its brevity, amazes with its special naturalness and the poet’s ability to penetrate other people’s thoughts and feelings. And his own prayer on the ship, his speech before the Council is a stream of words, directly and sincerely flowing from his heart. The very reflection directed against the prevailing Arian opinions, and the general judgment about the errors of other heretics, against whom he fought with all the strength of his pious zeal and humble patience, and this judgment, with all the abstractness of some thoughts, is as suitable and appropriate as, for example, the reasoning of English rulers about the political state of European states and about modern wars in the historical dramas of Shakespeare. In conclusion of the analysis of Gregory’s poems, we can only regret that these creations exist for us only in a simple prose translation. Of course, their poetic perfections shine through clearly in the translated Russian language, but still the lack of harmonic musicality of the original verse constitutes an important and great loss. With the replenishment of this tangible deficiency, one can be quite sure that these poems could compete in their merits with many famous lyrical works, replacing many of the desktop poetic works known to us. St. Gregory the Theologian practiced poetry, by the way, by his own good-natured admission, and in order to have an advantage over the poets who became famous among the Greeks. And he really rose above them both in his view of poetry and in the execution of his work; Having given the best and worthy content to his poems, he excluded from the sphere of objects of poetic expression everything low and coarse, and indeed, with its intensified extremes, it does not need new animation and depiction, especially since what is offensive to moral feeling and for those who are not firm in virtue serves most of all as a reason for new falls. That is why, even when depicting pagan wickedness and debauchery, St. Gregory did not describe the most extreme degrees of development of evil, which could be expected from writers of the so-called natural school 945. As for poetic expression and disclosure, in the circle of selected content Gregory the Theologian acted completely freely and completely and illuminated this content with such a clear light that cannot be found in any other poet. It is also important that for all the cries about the vanity of life, he is very far from the grumbling that disappointed dreamers allowed themselves. All these are perfections that poetic works must have at any time. And to those who condemned his poems for their external form, St. Gregory wrote in response only the following words: “You judge the size of my poems, but this is because you yourself do not observe the size when you write in iambics and produce some degenerates of poetry. What blind man recognized the one who saw? Who, without moving from the spot, caught up with the running one? 946 From this it is clear that the reproaches made to him were completely unfair. However, speaking in this way, it is not superfluous to recall that the main merit of St. Gregory the Theologian not in the fact that he poetically expounded the Christian teaching, but in the fact that with apostolic zeal he defended the holy faith from the attacks of its enemies and passed it on to others in all its purity and integrity. The truths of the Christian religion have a strong influence on our souls even when they are presented in the simplicity of faith and without any artificiality. But if Gregory the Theologian, fulfilling his high service to the Church, was not inferior to the famous worldly poets in the very artistry of his presentation of Christian teaching, then the more irresponsible before God all Christian writers are, the more indifferent they are to the poetic creations of this great Father of the Church. Published from: Proceedings of the Kyiv Theological Academy. 1863. No. 4. P. 400–430. Schlegel F. History of ancient and new literature. Part 1. St. Petersburg, 1829. P. 273. Here: written in the spirit of ancient Greek lyric poetry in the form of excerpts and fragments in collections. – Ed. From ts-sl. “Svirat” – “play the flute.” – Ed. Greg. Nazianz. Opera. Coloniale. 1690. T. 2. P. 248, 249. Compare: St. Gregory the Theologian. About his poems // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. pp. 289–291. That is, rhythmic. – Ed. I sing like the bird that lives in the branches. – Ed. They want to be useful, delighting the reader, but at the same time admonishing them. Horace in “Ars Poetica” has the following phrase: “Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci, lectorem delectando pariterque monendo” [He will gather the voices of all who mix business with pleasure, both pleasing people and instructing them on the true path (translation by M. Gasparov)]. – Ed. Lines from A. S. Pushkin’s poem “The Poet and the Crowd.” – Ed. And this is what Gregory the Theologian did, pledging to remain silent for the sake of silence throughout Great Lent; At this time he silently received even famous visitors, civil dignitaries. Between the poems of St. Gregory also published thoughts written in one-liners, couplets and quatrains. They, as directed by the poet himself, contain either some opinion or short sayings, remarkable in their combination of speech. This should also include poems entitled: “On the authentic books of the Inspired Scripture”; "Twelve Patriarchs"; "Egyptian plagues"; "Moses' Ten Words"; “Miracles of the Prophets Elijah and Elisha”; "Genealogy of Christ"; "The Twelve Apostles"; “The Miracles of Christ” - and “Definitions, lightly outlined”, transposed into measured speech only so that they could be more conveniently imprinted in the memory. Besides this, St. Gregory composed twenty tombstones for different persons and inscriptions for two churches. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. About smart entities // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. pp. 23–25. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. About the covenants and the coming of Christ // Ibid. pp. 28–30. St. Gregory the Theologian. The poems are dogmatic. About the Holy Spirit // Ibid. P. 15. That is, preceding these complaints. – Ed. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Moral poems. About the ways of life // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 121. In this regard, one cannot help but see the influence of the poems of Gregory the Theologian on the poetry of our church liturgical books. Our akathists, obviously, have a lot in common with similar passages in the poems of Gregory the Theologian. According to the judgment of cold reason, there are only rhetorical synonyms and tropes here, but everyone knows that these very creations arouse sincere and abundant tears in reverent readers. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Historical poems 56, 59, 60 [On the evil one] // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 309, 310. Apodictic – reliable, based on logical certainty, irrefutable. – Ed. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. About the vanity and unfaithfulness of life and the common end for all // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 281. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. About human nature // Ibid. P. 116. Wed: St. Gregory the Theologian. On the low value of the external world // Ibid. Here, by the way, let us also recall Plato’s complaints against Homer for the fact that with his “Iliad” he did not contribute to the improvement of private and public life. If it is indeed true that, while presenting the gods in the modern national spirit, he did not share the opinions of his compatriots about the gods, yet his epic cannot be called the clearest revelation of the truth, because the poet’s own idea remained completely hidden for his contemporary readers. In the description, for example, of the visit of the Hero to Zeus, they saw an objective representation of the truth, when they continued to idolize their own passions. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Poems about yourself // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. pp. 179–192. Wed: St. Gregory the Theologian. Maxim // Ibid. P. 292. Wed: St. Gregory the Theologian. On rich lovers // Ibid. pp. 145–149. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. To the bishops // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. pp. 260–264. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. A poem in which Saint Gregory retells his life // Ibid. pp. 196–233. “Natural school” is the name of the literary movement of realism in Russian literature of the 19th century. – Ed. Wed: St. Gregory the Theologian. About his poems // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 290.