Ineffable

Contents Preface by V.N. Genke 1. About the beginnings 2. About the Son 3. About the Spirit. 4. About the World 5. About Providence 6. About rational beings 7. About the soul 8. About the covenants and appearance of Christ St. Gregory the Theologian is one of the early Christian poets, whose poetic heritage is significant both in literary and theological terms. This heritage remains insufficiently studied to this day. At the same time, in recent years, both in our country and abroad, there has been an increase in interest in the poetry of the saint. Poems by St. Gregory, the translation of which is presented below 1, are undoubtedly related to each other: Arc. 1 – Περὶ ἀρχῶν, I, 1, 1; Arc. 2 – Περὶ ϒίοῦ, I, 1, 2; Arc. 3 – Περὶ Πνεύματος, I, 1, 3; Arc. 4 – Περὶ κόσμου, I, 1, 4; Arc. 5 – Περὶ Προνοίας, I, 1, 5; Arc. 6 – Περὶ λογικῶν φύσεων, I, 1, 7; Arc. 7 – Περὶ ψυχῆς, I, 1, 8; Περὶ Arc. 8 –Περὶ Διαθηκῶν καί ̓Έπιφανείας Χριστοῦ, I, 1, 9. In the same order they are located in the three main groups of manuscripts of the poetic works of St. Gregory - Ω and Ψ (going back directly to the author), as well as Π 2 (a tradition going back to the collection compiled by Nikita David 3 at the beginning of the 10th century). We can say with a high degree of confidence that this unity initially included precisely these eight poems: in groups Ω and Ψ they are followed by I, 1, 11 4, and in the corpus of Nikita David - I, 2, 9; I, 2, 14; I, 2, 15 + I, 2, 16; I, 2, 17 + II, 1, 2; I, 2, 31; I, 2, 33. In both cases, additions were most likely made to the pre-existing unity of the texts. It is more difficult to judge whether these eight works had a common title: Nikita's collection of fourteen poems was entitled τὰ ἀπόρρητα, but it is unclear whether he extended the name, already assigned to the original group by that time, to the entire compilation he compiled or titled his collection himself. If this name was already in use, it is difficult to say whether it goes back to St. Gregory. Some manuscripts break these poems into smaller parts. For example, in Bodleianus Clarkianus 12 (C) Arc. 4 is divided into two fragments: 1) verses 1–88 (with the title Περὶ κόσμου); and 2) verses 89–100 (Περὶ ἀγγέλων), and Arc. 8 – into three: 1) verses 1–30 (Περὶ διαθηκών); 2) verses 31–81 (Περὶ ἐπιφανείας Χριστοῦ); and 3) verses 82–99 (Περὶ βαπτίσματος). The same division of Arc. 8 is found in Neapolitanus gr. 24 (N) and Vat. gr. 482 (Va), but in these manuscripts Arc. 4 is not divided by 5. In the manuscript Laurentianus VII.10 (L) 6, the richest collection of poems by St. Gregory the Theologian, we find the division Arc. 8 to the same parts as in C, N and Va: after Arc. 8, 30 and 8, 81 marks the beginning of a new poem, but the titles are not indicated. Most likely, these changes were made by later editors. In modern times, the editio princeps was carried out by Jacques de Billius in 1575. 7 The publication included all the poems in the collection of Nikita David in the same order as indicated above. The group of poems in question was allocated by de Bigly into an independent section, which he entitled Arcana, translating into Latin the title τὰ ἀπόρρητα, which Nikita had previously used for a wider group of texts. This edition was based on the Group Π manuscript, now lost. In the 16th century editions by Hoeschel 8 and Morelli 9 were also published. Caillot's 1840 edition 10 was reproduced in PG Volume 37. In this edition between Arc. 5 and 6 are poems I, 1, 6, written in iambic trimeter, for the sole reason that it is devoted to the same topic as Arc. 5. This insertion is an example of an arbitrary and imprudent regrouping of ancient texts without taking into account the manuscript tradition. No less significant is the deep semantic connection between Arc. 1–8. In these hexameters St. Gregory consistently creates an image of the universe and man from a Christian point of view, touching on all aspects of the world order that worried his contemporaries. R. Cadell proposed to consider these eight poems as a single poem 11. However, the degree of semantic and structural coherence of the elements does not seem so close - in particular, “On the Son” and “On the Soul” can well be considered as separate, complete works, although they are inscribed in the general plan of a larger unity. Perhaps it would be most correct to correlate this unity with the concept of a poetic cycle, where each element is relatively independent, but at the same time is part of the whole. The text of “The Ineffable” is filled with many allusions and echoes of ancient Greek poetry, philosophy, patristic literature and Holy Scripture. These textual parallels undoubtedly deserve a separate and detailed study. We have made this translation from the critical edition of C. Moreschini and D. E. Sykes, 12 the text of which is reproduced below. I know that on a fragile boat we set out on a long voyage, Making your way to the starry sky on fragile wings - The mind ascended to them, wishing to exalt the Divinity, Even the angels do not know how to honor some things as they should, Just like God's statutes, the universe was also fed. Nevertheless (since the Lord is often favorable Not at all to a generous gift, but to a gift of love and humility), I will boldly break the silence with a word. However Be gone, wicked ones. My word rushes to the pure, Or to those who are cleansed. Uninitiated, as if Animals (as it was when, clothed with divine light, Christ gave Moses the tablets of the Law, Let them be destroyed by fragments of rocks and cliffs. This is how they did it; and that's how great the Word is The unclean God-fighters were expelled from our community. I am on this page my prologue with the same speech I will lay down how in ancient times two well-meaning men They inspired awe in the people, witnesses of the highest verbs (I will speak only to those who know) - Moses and Isaiah, The first is by bestowing the Law, and the second is when the Law is lost: “Listen, high sky; accept, O earth, my word.” Spirit of Almighty God, lift up my tongue and mind, So that with a thunderous trumpet he will reveal the whole truth to people To the joy of those who are involved in spirit with the whole Divinity. Our God is one, beginningless, and He has no cause; Not limited by anything that happened in the past or future; He is infinite, there is eternity in Him; great, glorious Son The Only Begotten is an equally great Father; but at the same time He is by no means involved in the flesh through the Son, He is Reason. God is the only other (not other in divinity) - this is the Word God's, the living imprint of the Father; the beginningless God, Equal to Him and the only Son. But at the same time He remains entirely the Father, He is distinct from the Son - Steward of the world, from the power and wisdom of the Fathers. The one Spirit is from the good God. However, go away Anyone who has not been marked with the special seal of the Spirit, To proclaim His divinity, whoever is full of slander, He who is only partially enlightened, who reasons for himself, A muddy source covered with mud, a lamp extinguished. First of all we will sing to the Son and worship the blood - Purification of our passions. Because it is truly necessary So that a mortal may contribute to the heavenly powers, since An evil tongue, destroying itself, is at enmity with God. Before the Father there was nothing, and He who contains Everything in the universe, He knows about it - He is God's Word, What comes from the Father, and time has no power over the Son, The Image of the Prototype He is equal to the Creator. The Great Youth is the glory of the Father, and the Father only knows As He revealed Him, likewise also the Son, Who was manifested, For nothing dares to approach the Divine; however It is obvious to every mortal, just like me, that God It is false to attribute what we associate with birth - That is, division is an abomination, and also flow, for, If without passion I am unable to give birth, as I am bound by the flesh, - Incomposite, incorporeal, on the contrary, dispassionate. What if The natures are different, is it any wonder that the generation is different? Time precedes me, but, nevertheless, before the Word, born For those who are outside of time, there was no time at all. When There was the beginningless Father, who embraced all things with Divinity, The Son, who has the beginning of the One who is timeless, was with Him - Likewise, light comes from the circle of the great sun (Even if our images are weaker than the great God) - So that putting something between the Son and the Father, They did not separate the Lord Father from the Lord Son. Whatever we think of as existing before, before God, - By will or time, we will thereby introduce the separation of the Divinities. God as a Parent is a great Parent. And if it's worthy The Father has no reason or beginning in the Divinity, That is no less worthy for the Branch of the Fathers, so revered The root has one. And may God not be separated from God. You have known the Child not without the Father, and the words “unborn” And “begotten from the Father” does not at all mean that the forms Two of one Deity exist. Who came up with this? I think the essence is not divided; forms exist outside. Even though the Word is born, the Father accepts nothing Carnal, for it is incorporeal (and let not the human mind be So wicked to even think of something like that). You also have God the Son – He is the Parent’s pride and glory. If you please the great Father Divinity, you want It is daring to fill human souls with vain fear, Well, deny generation, reduce Christ to creatures, Offending the Son and the Father the Divinity. Vain madman You will steal the Child from the Father: if he is a creature, then He is not God. Everything that was ever not will decay again, Let this remain even in the great thoughts of God. What is the reason why, having a beginning Created, my friend, by the passion of Christ you would become a god, If you chained Him and call Him a slave Equal to you, and not God’s, but slavishly honoring Him? If the great God created Him as an instrument, later (Just like a blacksmith forges a hammer to repair a cart) So that the right hand of the First Source-God finds me, - This means that the heavenly Christ is much lower than creation, for For the sake of creation, the Word came into being - not a creation For Christ's sake. Who could have come up with such an absurd fable? If He took on the body, only helping your passion, Then you will limit the glorious Divinity by measure. Having mercy on us, is he really guilty? I don't believe it. He did not lose the Divinity, creating my salvation, - A doctor who has descended to human vices and stinking passions; Mortal, but God; from David, but He is Adam’s sculptor; Having clothed himself with flesh, He is beyond the limits of corporeal existence; The Mother has, but the Virgin; outlined, and yet – immeasurable. He lay in a manger when, guided by a guiding star, The wise men came to worship Him with expensive gifts. He entered the competition with mortals, but was adamant In three fights with the tempter. Even though they offered Him food, He Himself fed thousands, just as He transformed water into wine. Received Baptism, but cleansed his sins, and those who thundered By the voice of the Spirit He was declared to be the Son of the Beginning. As mortals He slept, but as God He calmed the stormy sea. Although He was weak, He gave strength to the knees of the paralytic. He prayed often. But who listened to the prayers of the powerless? High Priest and Sacrifice; both God and the one who presented the sacrifice - Having made an offering of blood to God, He cleansed the whole world. Sin was nailed to the cross when He ascended to the tree. Should everything be listed? Having remained among the dead, having risen, He raised the dead first to life. And if all this - The beggary of a mortal, here is the wealth of the One who is incorporeal. You must not blaspheme the Divine with these properties of mortals: It makes the earthly form glorious, which The ever-present Son accepted, showing you His mercy. Why are you delaying, O mind? And glorify the Spirit with praise It is your duty: do not divide in words what is one in nature. Let us fear the great Spirit: He is my God, and God By them I came to know; He is both God and is capable of becoming a god. He is omnipotent and abundant in gifts; sung by the most pure In chorus, He gives life to both earthly and heavenly creatures; God's power, from the Father He comes, sitting high. He is not a Youth (the One has only one glorious Youth), But neither is it outside the Divinity, which is invisible; He is equal in glory. Who is on the tablets of the saints of the God-inspired Law The heavenly Spirit thirsts to know the Divine, he will see Many different roads, inevitably converging together - If he desires, and if he acquires the Most Pure Spirit In your heart, and only if your mind is insightful. Does anyone thirst for the wondrous Divinity only for a simple sound, Let him know that the word he is looking for is unwise. At that time In which Christ's Divinity was not yet revealed to mortals, The weak-hearted could not accept the incredible. How can a beginner fully accept the teaching? Isn't it Someone imagines the radiance of fire to fragile eyes Or will it immediately saturate them with the brilliance of unbearable rays? It’s better to gradually imagine the radiant distances, So as not to harm these sources of sweet light. For as of old, the lords of the Father revealed the Divinity Completely, the great glory of Christ, the word Only for a few intelligent mortals has it been fully illuminated, Thus, when the divine essence of the Son was clearly revealed Of the Light Spirit, not all of the Divinity shone forth, because The spirit revealed only a little light to them, but more Only later did he reveal: divided by tongues of fire, He gave the sign to the Deities when our Savior ascended. I know that the Spirit is both light for the good and fire for the bad. This is how I outlined the doctrine of the Divine for you: If you are surprised that both the Son and the non-Son are in one The essence of the Divine, and you listen to the nasty words of the evil ones, God gives me his word for this too, coming to my aid. From Adam came Seth and Adam's wife: Eve is twofold, and Seth is from a legally married couple. That one was not conceived, and this one was conceived, but both They were mortals. And, remembering this, the Deities are not dishonored This is an inappropriate comparison. One nature, immeasurable, Uncreated, free, good, equal and eternal. Our God turns the universe in three bright lights, one. With them I, a new, different person, am resurrected in Baptism: Away from the grave and death, I return back to the light. The Triple Deity created me as a light-bearer. I will not renounce you, oh Epiphany! And if, washed With all the Divinity, I will share the Divinity, which is filled with light, It would be better for me... I tremble to finish what follows, - I will hold on to the hope of God’s mercy at Epiphany. If He cleansed me completely, then He is one and sacred God for me. Any wicked person is justly punished, He boldly divides his Divinity in two. If we rarely hear about the good Spirit or the Son In words inspired by God, from God-bearing men, As if they were smaller and younger than God the Father, then it is necessary You can clearly comprehend the word of the deepest Wisdom: Whatever goes back to the beginningless root does not divide God, So that power may be united and not honored in multitude. The Trinity is from one, the monad is again from the Triad: It is not a source, a river and a stream, and not about a stream What we are talking about here is that it descends into the earth in three branches; And not about the torch that will return to the funeral pyre; And not about the word that came out of the mind, remaining in it; And not about the glare of the sun that flutters on the walls, Reflected away from the brightly shining water surface, Which, approaching, runs; Having run away, he approaches again. The nature of God is not unstable, not at all fluid, She does not need to converge again: with God there is immutability in everything. By thinking this way, you make a most pure sacrifice in your heart. In three lights this one nature is affirmed; And not the monad, which is innumerable: here are three perfections, And not a triad, where there is multitude: here nature is indivisible. And in the Divinity there is one, and Those who are divine are three; Each of Them is God, if you call one. God is beginningless, hence the richness of the divine essence: If three are spoken of, this is so that among mortals The reverent proclamation of the three lights is accomplished, May the people exalt the glorious monarchy, The host of gods are no longer rejoicing in their multi-power. For for me, plurality of power is an anarchy of disputes; Disputes lead to divisions, and divisions lead to disintegration. I think that plurality of power is completely alien to the Divine. Let them talk about tritheism, if there is time or thought, The power or will of the gods is shared among themselves, because Each of them is not able to live in harmony and serenity. This is what I teach about the Trinity: there is one power in Her, Thought, and glory, and power. Therefore unity is constant, Possesses great honor in the unified harmony of God. This is the revelation of light that the Trinity has given me: He is hidden under the veil of the Church, under the wing of a cherub, Where the dominion of God's essence is. Greater knowledge - Angelic choirs. Let only the Trinity know more about this. The time to sing praises to the creation of the great God is now, We have opposed our teaching to false opinions. Our God is one; and the fable of the Greek philosophers is helpless, As if forms, as well as matter, are co-originating. Once upon a time there were no forms at all that are considered gods, They appeared in the world only by the will of the great God. Was it ever possible for someone to see matter without form? Is there a form without substance, even after a lot of mental effort? I have never seen a colorless body or a color without a body. Who divided what is inseparable and united in nature? However, let's complete the division. If they were not merged Form and matter, how do you think they are connected? How did that divided world survive? Well, if they are united, How did you merge together? Who mixed them without God? What if God mixed them, then admit that He created everything in the universe. And the potters give their clay some form, For gold - goldsmiths, and sculptors - for stone. He who loves anarchy will yield more to God, Than our mind: matter, forms in motion. He thought - and everything arose, already put into form; God's thought is like a wise mother. Because it's hardly He created forms similar to other forms, like an artist, Having seen something that His mind would not have written. The nasty darkness of the Manichaeans, in the beginning you were not at all A kind of throne, opposed to the light on high. For where God is, there is no place for darkness. And evil is no match for God. If there is darkness, then you do not know God. Their union is unthinkable. If two fight, the stronger will win; If they are equivalent, then who would be able to reconcile them? This is the great wonder: having begun a terrible battle, You bring your enemies to agreement, forgetting about the battle. I consist of soul and body; the soul is a particle God's immeasurable light; body from dark root It was created for you - and you brought these together. If my nature is united, then there will be no battle. If the battle is terrible, my nature is not twofold. For a child comes from love, and not from war. That's what darkness is in your heart. And I am inviolably sure: Our God is one, without beginning, without strife, He is perfect light, The power of minds, compound and simple, walking on heights, Equally earthly and heavenly; and darkness appeared last, But not outlined and not approved by nature - This is our vice. Vice is a violation of God's statutes, Just as night is the setting of the sun, just as old age is Youth's infirmity; and marching to the north, the sun leads A terrible winter. And the first of the heavenly lights, which destroyed With his vile pride he hates both glory and light Mortal of this kind. And by his cunning, the murderer, The first of mortals tasted vice and death, inflating An all-consuming flame within me. Such is nature Late-born evil, of which he is the father. Death For the strongest iron there is rust. Suicide I planted this most disgusting destruction in myself, The cunning of the evil envious man follows him, carried away. World! If you always exist, like the Trinity, if You are so close to the Beginning glory, then why Christ-bearing lights, who have known God, set you So far from her, so not many summers at all Are you counted after you have been raised up by God's Word? If you were created later, let's think about what prompted you God's thought (and aimlessness and idleness are not characteristic of God), Before the world was created and arranged in many forms. Ruling in empty aeons, the Highest One contemplated in motion The brilliance of His superior splendor, which With one light expresses the triple radiance of God, Visible only to God and those for whom He is God. Moved and saw approved images of the world The mind that gives birth to the world, finding great thoughts in Its thoughts The future, which for God is already in the present. Everything is before God - what will be, what was, what is. I guess The time of an event divides it in two - into those that happened Before and after. With God everything is in perfect unity, In the close embrace of the divine everything is contained at once. Therefore, everyone, listen to what my mind has imagined. The mind labored to give birth to all things, and in due course The fruit of generation was revealed by the great Word of God. First It wished to strengthen the natures of the rational The creatures above and below, like a mirror of the primary light: The first - in the sky as a shining servant of the Lord, Full of brilliance, great, the second - with earthly glory, For this reason, I extinguished the Divinity to rule in heaven To fulfill with a multitude of intelligent beings and a multitude of light. The property of the nature of my King is to endow us with bliss. But so that the creature, approaching the Creator, does not thirst for glory, Equal to the divine, glory and light thereby deprived (maintaining the measure is excellent, but disproportion is criminal), Thoughts about the future, the Word moved away from the Trinity The light spilled around the throne, as well as human nature - Away from the shining angelic choirs; the nature of the latter Still, it didn’t fit that far, placing it as an assistant; Ours, on the contrary, is very far away, for we come from From the Divine and the earth, and simple nature is more blessed. As for the worlds, another, that is, heaven, was created in the beginning, Visible only to the minds, the abode of God-bearing creations, Full of light: God's people go there, In order to be deified, if both mind and body are cleansed. This corruptible world was created for mortals when it was necessary The beauty of the heavenly lights will be established, - the herald of God, The image of God is a great and glorious royal palace. These two worlds stand according to the advice of the great God. So on its broad basis the world was arranged The mind is infinite, great, containing everything, and above Abiding to all. Is there a way to embrace the immensity? But, having created it, from the first impulse he moves, Given, like a blow to a top that spins like a whirlwind, Moved by the great, immovable advice of God. But the nature of such a beautiful world is not accidental, A similar one to which it is hardly possible to imagine; Do not betray such a great world by teaching about chance. Has anyone ever seen a house that was not built with hands? Shield or helmet? Or a ship? Or a swift chariot? The world would not stand for so long if it were without beginning. The choir would also fall silent if they stopped being controlled. It is unlikely that this world has any other ruler. Except the One who created it. Believing the stars Leaders of our births and our entire lives, be responsible, What other heaven will you set in motion for the stars? Will you stretch one more sky higher, like the lord of the lord? Many people under the same star were born with Basileus Good and evil: this merchant, that orator, and this tramp; But only one sits proudly on the high throne. Those whose births are different die equally in battle. All those whom the stars have bound are not bound by a common death; Those separated by them find a single end. The fable is that everyone is driven by primary necessity; If some common force is greater than this, The luminaries contradict the luminaries. But who mixed them? For he who bound them together according to his own will also broke them apart. If God does this, what about the primary argument, Who drove out God? Or are you spinning God under the stars too? Can the world survive without the one who rules? Hardly. Those who think this way would expel God with this judgment. For either God or the stars rule over the universe. As for me, I know: God rules the universe, God's Verb here and there arranges everything that it has placed By thought He is above and below, and alone He was given The path is unchanging and firm, accomplished in eternal harmony; Other than that, life is full of vicissitudes, of which there are many forms. He showed us part of it, and part of it He hid in wisdom, desiring It is empty vanity to expose mortals, for something He has set it here, and He will reveal something to us in the last days; In due time the tiller will reap the ripened shoots - So is Christ, the best judge of my life. This word is not the luminary of the ruler, it is autocratic. Talk to me about horoscopes and about the smallest measures, About the zodiac and how you calculate the paths of the luminaries. Enough of the laws that rule a life filled with fears In the heart of a sinner, as well as hopes that come to good things. For if everything is governed by this circle of stars, then it Moves me too, for the circle of aspiration in me generates, So I have no inclination to improve In the will or in the mind. Only the stars in the sky rotate me. Don't talk about the star, about the greatness of the glory of Christ, The one who showed the wise men the way to the village from the east, In whom the timeless Son shone forth to us from mortal generation. She is not at all one of those that astrologers judge, But unusual: something like this has not appeared before for centuries - In the books of the Jews it was spoken of, of which the Chaldeans, Those who dedicated their lives to knowing the stars learned about everything. This star, among all the ones they watched, saw - Suddenly shining, flying quickly in the sky from the east To the land of the Jews, they concluded about the birth of the King. Thus the wisdom of the art of astrologers was crushed, for Together with the powers above, the Chaldeans bowed to the King. Other stars walk in the paths approved by Christ, Fiery, in constant striving, without deviation; These are motionless, these are mobile, and those are retrograde; Do they feed themselves, fiery by nature, or The stars walking around were created from the fifth body - We continue on our way. For we are in a hurry to cross To an intelligent, heavenly nature, but connected with the mortal earth. How, passing through the quiet, moisture-saturated air, Having met the cloud, it weaves from the reflected lights The sunbeam is a multi-colored marvelous rainbow, so Many everywhere the ether begins to glow in circles, Of which the glow becomes weak towards the outer edge, - In the same way, nature stands for light, for the Light is the highest It always shines on the minds, that is, smaller, weaker lights. This radiant source is incomprehensible and unnameable, And the mind of speed, which so strives for it, leaves, Always anticipating every thought, so that in our desires We were heading to new heights. Secondary lights After the greatness of the glorious royal Trinity - this Angels that are luminous are invisible; they are around the throne They walk great; these are fast-moving minds, flames, God's spirits, who soon rush through the air and serve With diligence to God's commands. They are simple and reasonable, Imbued with light, but do not at all come from the flesh (Indeed, all flesh, having been established, will be destroyed again), And they do not enter into the flesh, remaining as God created them. I would like them to be adamant, however Hold the reins of your mind here with your too frisky horse. Some of them will always serve the great God, Others have been entrusted with maintaining our peace with their strength; The Lord entrusted all of them with some important task: And to supervise people, and countries, and cities - Knowing the verbal sacrifices that are carried out by mortals. My spirit, what will you decide to do? My mind is in awe of beauty Having seen the sky, a veil of darkness descends before me. I don’t know at all whether to make a speech or remain silent? A traveler trying to cross a stormy stream freezes In long doubt and with the crossing he hesitates, tormented In his heart, he does not dare to plunge into the foamy waves; Need drives to the crossing, but courage is suppressed by fear: More than once he lifted his leg over the wave boldly, however He retreated again, doubting; but fear was overcome by need. Likewise, I, flowing invisibly to the Divinity, hesitate Say that even the servant of the Lord is vulnerable to sin Pure in heaven, this eidos filled with light - So that I do not thereby pave the path to sin for many; But I’m afraid to say that good is unyielding, For I see what the evil one is, the patron of vice. I would not plant the bad nature of the Good in people - Just like hatred or enmity in the creatures he loves; He would not allow evil to establish itself on another throne Or, like a King, be endowed with a beginningless nature. God put all this into my mind, tormented by sorrows. The first, pure nature of the Divine is unchangeable: The many will not be one; Can God deviate into something better? After all, more will become an escape from the essence. We need second great servants of the Highest Light Let us remember here who are close to the primary good, as close To the sun ether; humans, who are air, are only the third. God's nature is immutable in all things; angel bows Difficult to vice; easy - those named third, people: No matter how far we are from God, we are just as close to vice. The first was Dennitsa, who ascended highly (for he wished The royal honor of the great God, although he was endowed Great glory) lost its radiance and was overthrown ingloriously Down, and all turned into darkness, but did not become God. Being light, he fell to the low ground, from where Hatred blazes at the wise and removes everyone Away from the path to heaven, irritated by his failure. He does not want God's creatures to come close to God, From Whom he fell away; and he longed to share with people Darkness and sins; this envious man from paradise cast out those who wanted To have glory that would be no less than God's glory. Thus, having become exalted, Dennitsa fell from the vault of heaven, But, having stumbled, he was not the only one who was destroyed by pride: He then cast down those who had been taught by him in vice. (Like a wicked man who persuaded the royal army to betray) Driven by envy of the wise host of the highest God, Overwhelmed by the thirst to rule over many evil ones. This is why great sorrows appeared on earth: Demons are the companions of the evil king-murderer, Weak, dark ghosts of the night are harbingers of disasters, And the proud, and the liars, and the teachers of all errors, Drunkards, and party organizers, and lovers of laughter, Disputants and bloodsuckers, crooked souls and fortune tellers, Those who lurk in the dark, shameless ones, hellish creatures: They call everyone to themselves, but having led them astray, they hate them, They appear as light and darkness, openly and secretly harming us. This is what this army is like, and this is what kind of leader is at their head. Christ did not destroy Dennitsa by the impulse of his will, By whom He created the whole world (if He had wished, He would have destroyed, For it is hardly possible to hide from God’s wrath) But I did not leave my enemy completely free: He placed him between the good and the evil, erecting I slaughter fiercely between them, so that the enemy will be put to shame through it, Fighting against the weakest of ourselves, and for eternal glory Those among the people who strive for virtue will find Life itself is purified, like gold in a hot furnace. Soon he will be rewarded according to his deserts, stubborn in anger, On the day when fire destroys matter with blazing rewards, After he has pacified his servants for a long time, The tormented are painful. This is an angry parent's punishment. I am instructed in the angelic luminosity by the Spirit - as in the first, So it is in the last one. And here I discovered a certain measure; The measure is God. Approaching the King, we become bright Just as the light is bright, we will gain the same glory. Our soul is a divine breath, a heavenly essence, That she underwent confusion with the earthly and became light, Hidden in a cave - but an imperishable, divine light, for The image of the great God must not disintegrate, As is typical of reptiles and creatures that do not know speech, Although vice tried to make this image perishable. And not the scorching flame of the soul nature: in the destroyed Fire that destroys is hardly the basis. There's hardly any air Driven by inhalation and exhalation, finding no peace. But it is not a stream of blood passing through the flesh; disagreement Members that came together in the body - since the flesh And the nature of the immortal idea is not at all similar. What elevates the best over the worst, if there really is confusion Only made the beautiful - beautiful, bad - bad? And why is it that rationality is not given to the dumb? For in harmony is eidos and the mortal flesh of the dumb. This teaching says: the essence of the excellent is moderate. This is how they reason; they believe with their souls What comes out when the body leaves life. Food, without which a person cannot live, gaining Strength in mortal nutrition, the soul has never had. I also know a teaching that I will never accept - I consider the soul not common, not at all divided among everyone, And not forever wandering through the air: everyone would breathe in And they exhaled a single soul. And each in each The creature that lives by breath would be, for nature Air tends to spill out into everyone at different times. If the soul is permanent, then what was alive in the womb, What was the soul contained in, since my mother attracted me from the outside? If you consider your wife to be the mother of many offspring, You reward her with the absorption of many souls. This is not the teaching of wise men, but only a book fable, It’s as if the soul is constantly changing bodies, according to To their former existences - excellent or bad, For virtue there is a reward or for sin there is punishment, It’s as if they shamelessly take off my husband’s clothes, To put it on again, bothering yourself in vain. Having invented a cycle similar to the wheel of Ixion, They inspire the soul (if the wheel turns like that - and twice) In beast, plant, mortal, bird, snake, and dog, and fish. How long should this be allowed? I haven't seen an intelligent beast And I have never heard of the talking thorn. Always silent The fish is in the salt water, and the crow is chattering without stopping. If the soul (as they say) receives reward, This cycle is in vain: if punishment is carried out outside the flesh - A great miracle. If in the flesh - then which of the many Will you throw me into the fire? But the most surprising thing is this: since You connected me with many bodies and I know a lot, That's why I don't know one thing: which one I wore Skin first, what kind then, and in how many did I die? Apparently, my connector is full of bags, not souls. Or have I forgotten my old life after long wanderings? Listen now to my excellent word about the soul From this point on, I will add pleasantness to this song. Once upon a time the Word of Reason created the lofty world, Following the thought of the Father; there was no peace before. Everything that pleased Him was done according to His words. The sea and the land and the sky became peace, and the Word The mother of everything - that is, wisdom - who is capable of knowing has sought, The God-fearing one should be king over the earthly. The Word said: “The spacious sky is full of servants Pure and eternal, chaste minds, good angels, Hymns of composers, singing eternal glory to Me; The earth is still inhabited only by unreasonable creatures. I will create a reciprocal race, participating in both of them - The thinking man: between mortals and eternals he will be Rejoice in My works; wise, he will penetrate the secrets Heaven and will become the great ruler of the earth; this one from dust Another created angel will sing of My power and intelligence.” So he said, and, taking a particle of the newly created earth, With His immortal hand He created my form, Having endowed her with her own life, sending down the Spirit into her, Part of the Divine, Which exists outside of bodily forms. Thus, from the breath and dust of the immortal, mortal was created Image. It is the nature of the mind to be the master of both. Because of the earthly things in me, I choose the earthly path, For the sake of the divine, my heart strives for something else. This is how the first of mortals was educated. Subsequently the body Recreated from the flesh, but the soul enters invisibly In the ring composition. He who united knows how He endowed Earth with his breath and gave it His image. Another one, To help the words of this song, composed by me, rushing, Boldly and following many, he will set out this teaching: How the body was originally created for us from dust Then it became a continuous stream of people, where from the root Once created, new people are emerging, So is the God-breathed soul with human form, The newborn, from this time on, is united; many Having been communicated from the original seed to men, Within mortal limits, it forever retains a constant form. This is how the soul received the mind into its dominion. How the flute responds with a weak, discordant sound, Thin even in the hands of a sophisticated husband, but immediately The sound is pleasant, only he will take the flute wider, - Likewise, the soul, if it is in a weak body, is powerless; In the strong, on the contrary, it shines, revealing the whole mind of a person. Mortal was then created as an immortal son for glory He bought a new one so that he could go to God as a god, leaving this earth lately, and sent The man was not free, but also not with a bound will. The Son placed in the human heart inclinations for good, The law has established in our nature and among the ever-blooming of the Paradise Valleys placed man, looking at what He will lean to the side - naked, devoid of evil ones, False covers. To me, heaven seems like heavenly life. Here man was installed as the maker of God's covenants. God forbade him to taste the fruit of the one tree, What a perfect distinction between good and evil gave. For those who have grown, perfection is fitting, not for those who were at the beginning. earthly wanderings - and it will be just as harmful to the latter, How much food for babies is what is prepared for adults? After the murderer's malice The man heeded the admonitions coming from his wife, And prematurely he tasted the sweetness of the fruit, and, having put on In vestments of heavy flesh, turned into a bearer of a corpse (Only Christ limited the limits of sin by His death), Mortal was expelled from paradise to the earth from which he was created, And he accepted the lot of this life, filled with hardships. God set forth his flaming wrath so that Adam To block everyone’s path, like the forefather, to the wonderful tree, Let him not enter before his time, without having learned from the branch Avoid sweet fruits, and evil will not touch the tree of life. Like a sailor returning to the harbor after fierce storms, Once again setting the sails to a fair wind, Or on the oars he completes his journey with great effort, Likewise, having fallen away from God, we can sail back Only after experiencing a lot of work and struggles should I set out. This is the kind of misfortune our ancestor sowed for us mortals, This is how an ear full of destruction sprouted on our mountain. 8. About the covenants and the appearance of Christ Consider the basis of the law, which was revealed in two ways: Ancient and new; the law was first given to the Jews, They were the first to recognize the ruler of the Most High God, Afterwards he was preached from one end of the earth to the other. For the sovereignty of God over mortals is by no means accomplished According to orders that disagree with each other, as if something God did not know (the Word knows everything!) or as if He changed his mind (after all, this is shameful for mortals too). On the contrary, A loving God thereby helped me gain understanding. The enemy who tore Adam out of paradise by tempting him with the fruit Disastrous from the tree, like an army being captured, having defeated the commander, So he sought to cultivate destruction in Adam’s children. Having separated them by deception from the God of heaven, he sent To the starry sky the human mind, which is full of lights, Likewise to the forms of the dead, of which there was a visible image Given by human impulse and commanded to be worshiped A myth that was accepted on faith and not refuted later, Constantly gaining strength in the minds over the years. The sacred race of Jews perished without heeding the prophets, Who grieved, prayed and threatened with the wrath of the Lord, - Many prophets were killed in ancient times. The kings They had no fear of God at all and were malicious. They did not want to leave the groves, nor the heights, Where the people made bloody sacrifices to demons: They brought the wrath of the great God upon themselves and died. I took the path instead of them, in order to inspire them with zeal, Lead them to pious faith in Christ, encouraging Turn back, and, having had their fill of sorrow, let them become jealous The Jews are bitter towards another people, whom God His preference was given over the former people. However, this will only happen later. When did they despise The word of the law of the Jews was finally honored Great honor to the entire human race Eternal God the Father and the work of the great Son. Seeing that in the human body everything heavenly is devoured by malice, Destroying the soul, and the human race is under the power of the dragon, So that the property may return to Him, Christ does not He sent a doctor to the people (since the weak cannot be treated with medicine A serious illness), but, having exhausted His greatest glory, He, as the immortal God’s motherless Son, appeared to us: He was a stranger's son - He became incarnate for my sake, immortal In mortal life, from the Virgin Mother, may the whole be saved whole. Whole since Adam through eating from the tree of knowledge He fell, then Christ, according to human and heavenly laws, clothed himself Flesh in the womb of a Wife who has not known marriage (miracle, Incredible for the weakest minds to understand), And appeared as God and as mortal, bringing together Two natures, one of which was secret to people, The obvious is different: one was God, and the second was lastly Days appeared to us. He is one in two natures: United with the deity, He is both mortal, and King, and our Christ. New. Another Adam appeared to us, but hidden by a veil, May Adam, who was the forefather of men, heal (For otherwise He could not approach our weaknesses) Let him overthrow the ancient serpent, who considers himself wise. He, approaching Adam, was forced to meet with God: Extending anger and darkness, he tried to embrace Him, But, like a noisy sea, it crashed against the rocks of the cliff. Our Savior shook heaven and earth at His birth. The heavenly choirs sang a song, like a star from the east The path was shown to the Magi, whose feet were directed to the Lord Newborn, in order to worship Him with gifts. This is my word about the new birth of Christ: Nothing is shameful here - after all, only that which is sinful is shameful; Created by the Word, Christ is not involved in anything that is shameful. It was not through the passing of man that He became mortal - from the flesh Virgin, who was sanctified by the Spirit, born unbrided and most pure He who created Himself and accepted purification for us He fulfilled everything according to the law, giving reward to the law. As a teacher. And funeral honor before cancellation. Great Saint, His forerunner in the Nativity and the verb With its bright radiance about the wonderful coming, Proclaiming Christ and God in the barren desert. Thus He appeared, a mediator for nations near and far (He served as the cornerstone for both) He gave a twofold cleansing to mortals: according to the eternal Spirit The ancient was washed away by the wickedness that the flesh gave birth to, Also with our blood (I consider Christ’s my own) Blood, for it was shed by God, to atone for vices May it be a deliverance to our ancients and to the world). If I were not mortal, fluid, but adamant, All I need is the command of the great God, By whom I would be adorned, saved and greatly glorified. God did not create me as a god, making me flexible To one side and the other, and many gave me support, Between which I was given the grace of Ablution. For how the children of the Jews were saved from death by blood Prague anointed the doors when all the firstborn of Egypt Death destroyed in one night, with the same stamp God, who protects me from evil, is served by Baptism. For children it is only a seal, but for adults it is God’s medicine And the light-giver of Christ, offering the seal, so that, having been saved, From the depth of my sorrow, I have eased the burden on my neck And would return to life. After all, a traveler, tired from the road, He raises his knees again, refreshed by the coolness. The common heritage of all is the earth and the air we breathe, Common to all are the changing times and the wide sky, A common font for everyone, which grants salvation to people. These notations were first proposed in 1927 by L. Sternbach and are now considered generally accepted. Nikita David or Paphlagon (c. 885 - 942/950) - homiletic, student of Arethas of Caesarea. Poem I, 1, 11 could not initially belong to the group of texts under consideration, since it was written in a different meter. C, N and Va belong to the group of manuscripts Ω. L belongs to the group of manuscripts Ψ. Billius I. Gregorii Nazianzeni opuscula quaedam. P., 1575. Hoeschel D. S. Gregorii Nazianzeni, Theologi, Arcana; seu de principiis, versus CCCCXXCII cum Paraphrasi Graeca. Leiden, 1591. Morelli F. Gregorii Nazianzeni opera omnia. P., 1609–1612. Caillau A. B. Gregorii Nazianzeni opera omnia. P., 1778, 1840. Keydell R. Ein dogmatisches Lehrgedicht Gregors von Nazianz // BZ. 1951. Bd. 44. S. 315–321. Moreschini C., Sykes D. A. St Gregory of Nazianzus. Poemata Arcana. Oxf., 1997. P. 2–46.