И. Е. Троицкий Последние годы жизни святого Григория Богослова 320

Oh, if only I could enter the great, beautiful and blooming vineyard of God early in the morning and endure greater labor than others, and receive reward and glory on an equal basis with the last! In 382, ​​in Arianza, a small village located near the Cappadocian city of Nazianza, one decrepit, sick old man, with a hairless forehead, gray-haired, hunched over, and dressed very poorly, attracted everyone’s attention. He had just arrived here from a long journey and settled into his family home. This decrepit old man, sad and lonely, was seen here both as a playful baby, and as a slender young man with an intelligent, expressive face, and as a husband full of strength and strength. He's been here for a long time. He belonged to a family respected in the village: he had a father who was a bishop, a mother known for her piety and a kind, loving heart, a sister and a brother. But many years have passed since the members of this wonderful family went in different directions and everyone has already died. He was the only one left alive, a lonely old man, who had now returned to his native village to live out a life filled with work and sorrow. But it was not so much his sad appearance that this old man attracted the attention of the residents, but his strange fate. While he, dejected by old age and illness, arrived in his native village, poor, lonely, the whole world of that time spoke about him, he was respected by kings, listened to by bishops, blessed by the people and feared by numerous enemies and envious people. The sad solitude of the famous old man attracted the gaze of both friends and foes: some with love and hope, others with hatred and fear. This old man was St. Gregory the Theologian. The Council of Constantinople of 381 began noisily. Personal passions and interests moved far away from the purpose for which they gathered. St. Gregory, being in the center of this noisy cycle of passions, petty calculations and intrigues, saw with grief the need for sacrifice on his part and made it. With noble simplicity and dignity, he said to his fellow bishops: “You, whom God has gathered to deliberate on matters pleasing to God, consider the question of me to be of secondary importance. No matter how my case ends, although they condemn me in vain, it does not deserve the attention of such a council. Direct your thoughts to what is more important, unite, finally cement mutual bonds of love. How long will they laugh at us as indomitable people who have learned only one thing - to breathe quarrels? Give the right hand of fellowship to one another with zeal. And I will be the prophet Jonah and, although innocent in the storm, I sacrifice myself to save the ship. Take me and throw me by lot. Some hospitable whale in the depths of the sea will give me shelter. And from this moment you begin your like-mindedness, then extend to other things. Let this place be called the place of “space” (Gen. 26:22). This will turn into glory for me too. And if you stop at me, then this will be dishonor for me. I give the law to stand for the laws. If you stick to this way of thinking, nothing will be difficult for you. I was not happy when I ascended the throne, and now I step down from it voluntarily. My physical condition also convinces me of this. My only duty is death; everything is given to God. But my only concern is for You, my Trinity! Oh, if only you had some well-trained tongue, at least full of freedom and zeal, as your protector! Farewell and remember my labors!” 322 But having said goodbye to the voluntarily abandoned throne and retired to his Arians, St. Gregory could not forget Constantinople, the church of Anastasia and his friends and admirers there. The thought of a voluntary exile often returned to the place and witnesses of his exploits, to scenes memorable to the heart, greeted familiar places and dear faces from distant solitude. These memories often pour out all the sorrow and pain of a noble, loving soul, undeservedly insulted in its best affections. This grief ascends to high poetry in the famous “Dream of the Church of Anastasia,” which was for St. Gregory is more valuable than anything else in the world 323. The burning feeling of grief for the friends and dear places he left behind did not leave St. Gregory until the end of his life, although he long ago forgave his enemies and envious people for the insult inflicted on him. In quite extensive correspondence with acquaintances and friends, he constantly returns with a feeling of sad regret to the good old days when he lived with abandoned friends in Constantinople, dear to him. “If someone,” he writes to one of his friends, “from our mutual friends (and I am sure there are many of them) asks you: “Where is Gregory now, what is he doing?” - boldly answer that he philosophizes in silence, thinking as much about the offenders as about those about whom he does not know whether they ever existed in the world. So he is irresistible! And if the same person asks you: “How does he tolerate separation from friends?” - then don’t boldly answer that he is wise, but say that in this he is very cowardly. For everyone has their own weakness, and I am weak in relation to friendship and friends, including the amazing Amazon. There is only one way, perhaps, that you will serve me and make me grieve less for you, namely, if you begin to remember me and assure me with letters that this is really so” 324. The sad mood of the spirit of St. Gregory was further enhanced by the reception he received at home. Neither his high moral character nor his great services to the Church in general and the Church of Nazianza in particular saved St. Gregory from the fate of all great people who voluntarily or involuntarily descend from the pedestal on which the crowd is accustomed to seeing them. She instantly turns away from them and, instead of the previous flattery and servility, rewards them with either complete indifference, or - even worse - offensive compassion and patronage, behind which thinly disguised gloating is hidden. Apparently, she takes revenge on them in this way for their immeasurable superiority over her. The same fate befell St. Gregory upon his return to his homeland. “God once spoke a beautiful and truly Divine word, that every prophet seems worthy of honor only on someone else’s side, and what is known is most often not recognized as worthy of honor (cf. Mark 6:4). The same thing, and even more, obviously happened to me now” 325. “You ask what my affairs are,” he writes to Procopius. – I’ll answer you by telling you a story. They say that the Athenians, when they were oppressed by tyrants, sent an embassy to the Lacedaemonians [Spartans], and the purpose of the embassy was to arouse some philanthropy there. Then, when the ambassadors returned and someone asked them: “What kind of attitude do the Lacedaemonians have towards us?” - they answered: “As towards slaves, they are very merciful, but as towards free people, they are very arrogant.” This is what I have to write. They treat me more philanthropically than with outcast people, but more contemptuously than with people preparing to appear before God” 326. The time of a voluntary exile in Arianza was divided between concerns about his extremely disturbed health and ordinary activities: ascetic deeds, writings and correspondence with various people, mainly with friends and acquaintances. For a long time now, constant labors and exploits, both administrative and ascetic, combined with the constant sorrows of life, have shaken the health of St. Gregory. And the last trials he endured, together with his advancing years, completed the work of his previous years. An old man, physically and morally broken, he arrived in his Arians. To maintain a fading life it was necessary to undergo treatment, and St. Gregory did not neglect the means available in his position to improve his health. He considered prayer to be the first and most effective medical remedy. And therefore, almost everything he wrote at this time either directly contains a prayerful appeal to the One Physician of souls and bodies, or is imprinted with the spirit of a prayerful mood. “I suffer from illness and am exhausted in body... My limbs are weakened and my legs do not walk firmly... But forbid illness, forbid it with Your word; Your word is my salvation! And if you don’t forbid it, give me patience to endure everything. Let corruption go to corruption; keep the image: then you will have in me a perfect servant” 327. “Strengthen me, Christ! Why am I relaxed, Your servant? The tongue that sings praises to You is ineffective; and do you allow this? Restore me and do not reject Your priest!” 328 But the famous sufferer did not neglect ordinary means to alleviate painful suffering. For this purpose, if the time of year permitted and the weather was good, he would retire to the field or forest in order to enjoy clean air and tranquility from all everyday worries, both of which were very useful to him in his position: after these walks he felt fresher and calmer and took up his usual work with redoubled zeal. “I spend time in the middle of the field, far from residential areas, and there I improve my physical health,” he wrote in a letter to Victor 329. “Yesterday, crushed by my sorrows,” he says in another place, “I sat alone, far from people, in a shady grove and was consumed by my heart. In suffering, I love such healing and willingly talk alone with my heart. The winds hummed and, together with the singing birds from the tree branches, sent down a good sleep even to those who were too weak in spirit. And on the trees, the favorites of the sun, sweet-sounding grasshoppers, from their musical larynxes filled the entire forest with their chirping. There was cool water nearby and, quietly flowing through the grove moistened by it, washed my feet. But I was overcome by grief just as strongly as before. Nothing around me entertained me, because the mind, when burdened with sorrows, does not want to find consolation anywhere. And I, carried away by the whirling of the soaring mind, saw in myself such a struggle of opposing thoughts” 330. The shady grove inspired St. Gregory's mournful thoughts about the infinitesimalness of everything earthly and the impenetrable darkness that hides the secret of this infinity from the human mind, about extreme poverty, powerlessness and insignificance of man himself. These gloomy thoughts were dispelled by the bright, soothing thought that the impenetrable darkness hiding from man both the world and himself in an insoluble tangle of contradictions would finally be resolved on that great day when the veils would be removed from all secrets. “Where are you leading me, evil tongue? Where will my worries end? Stop. Everything is below God. Submit to the Word. It was not in vain (I will resume the song again) that God created me. Such a thought comes from our cowardice. Now there is darkness, and then reason will be given, and you will understand everything when you either contemplate God or burn in fire. As soon as my dear mind sang this to me, my sorrow was quenched. I came home late from the shady grove; and sometimes I laugh at those who argue differently, and sometimes, if the mind is in a struggle with itself, my heart is tormented with sorrow” 331. In addition to these walks through fields and forests, St. Gregory undertook more distant journeys - to the Xanxarid waters 332 and to one monastery, where there was also a bath 333. The extreme relaxation he felt, especially in his legs, did not allow him to make these journeys except on a stretcher. In such cases, one of the few remaining relatives 334 looked after him. And at home, during painful attacks, he was served by one pious woman who dedicated herself, as can be seen from the letter of St. Gregory to Castor 335, in general works of mercy. But even during illness, as well as in moments of relief from it, St. Gregory lived not for himself, but for others. From his rather large and quite varied correspondence with different people, which he conducted in the last years of his life, we see that he constantly responded to all the most important issues of his time and hurried to take part in all the needs of both those close and not close to him. The first place among all his concerns belonged to the Holy Church, just as it also belonged to the first place in his heart. He kept a vigilant eye on all her enemies and responded sensitively to her every need. So, soon after his arrival in Arians, he took over the management of the Nazianzi church 336. Very little information has reached us about the actions of St. Gregory during this last temporary government of his Nazianza church, 337 but we are confident that even now, as in the old time of strong courage, he did not lose sight of any useful measure that could promote the good of his church. From his letters we learn that at this time he waged an active struggle against the Apollininists, who especially began to spread and intensify towards the end of his life. Clever and decisive heretics, taking advantage of one of the trips of St. Gregory to the Xanxarid waters, they obtained their own bishop in Nazianz. They received this favor from two passing bishops, “deposed at the Ecumenical Eastern and Western Council,” as St. Gregory in a letter to Olympius 338. And St. Gregory entered into a decisive struggle with them. But this struggle, coupled with the troubles that Bishop Helladius of Caesarea forced him to experience, and the intrigues waged against him by his closest assistants and colleagues, weighed too heavily on the sick and decrepit old man, and he began to ask the bishops to remove from him the burden of governing this church, which had become beyond his strength. “I testify before God and before the chosen Angels,” he writes to Bishop Theodore of Tian, “that this flock of God is unjustly suffering, being left without a shepherd and without a bishop because of my mortification, because I am held by an illness that suddenly removed me from church affairs, and now I am good for nothing, I am constantly on my last breath and am even more burdened with affairs... Take care of your 339 church, as you please, and do not despise her in an upset state that she does not deserve. Not to mention other things; what the Apollinarians who have now rebelled have done to her and what they are threatening, inquire about this from my masters, my co-presbyters, from the chorebishop Eulalis and from Celevsius, whom I sent with the intention of your reverence. It is not my age and not my weakness that can stop this...” 340 “Let my lord, the most God-loving Bishop Helladius, stop entering,” he writes in another letter to Theodore, “into investigations of my affairs, for he seeks this not by spiritual means, but by circumlocutions that show quarrelsomeness, not by the strictness of church rules, but in satisfaction of anger, which time reveals and many things, together with time, brought into action without there is no reason for this... If I had enough physical health to be able to rule the church in Nazianza... then I am not so pitiful and ignorant of divine decrees that I would either despise the church or pursue the conveniences of life, meaning the rewards that are prepared for those who work according to God and use the talent entrusted to them in their work” 341. “When, having left the other side,” says St. Gregory, in a note to himself, written after he had finally relinquished control of the Nazianzi Church, “I returned to my fatherland and with pleasure saw my native land and my dear people, the ark immediately came to my mind, which alone escaped drowning in a justly lost world; because my fatherland, when almost the right teaching was becoming impoverished in it, was saved by the tree of my great father, making him a complete worshiper of the All-Trinity. I wanted to save this people, suffering from anarchy, like a ship, which, having lost its helmsman in the depths, is overwhelmed by the waves, from the greatest troubles... but... Firstly (who could have expected this?), those occupying the second degrees of the throne, the elders, the chairmen of the people, this wonderful host, were unkind to me. Others, who were still held back by a small remnant of shame, people, like other tunics, two-faced and two-colored, outwardly stood for me, but inwardly they were ill-disposed towards me... Others, not secretly, but too obviously, were hostile to me; they would be ashamed to seem meaningless in their malice” 342. The request of the famous worker was respected, and Nazianz received a bishop in the person of Eulalia. My joy on the occasion of the appointment of this worthy bishop, St. Gregory expressed in a letter to St. Gregory of Nyssa 343. From this letter it is clear that the relationship between St. Gregory the Theologian and Eulalius were the most friendly. “...Through your prayers,” he expresses himself in this letter, “a shepherd has been given worthy of your piety: this is the venerable Eulalia, the God-loving bishop, in whose arms I would like to die” 344. But it was not only the Nazianza church that St. cared about. Gregory at this time. The general fate of the Church of Christ occupied him even more. Her enemies were his enemies, wherever he found them. And there were a lot of them, both near and far. Arians, Macedonians, Eunomians, Apollinarians of every possible shade were present at every turn. The audacity of all these heretics was equal to their numbers. The Apollinarians were especially dangerous, as they were closer to the general consciousness than the refined Arians and Doukhobors. In general, both the government and the people looked at them rather condescendingly, perhaps because the ugly combinations of this heresy had not yet been exposed in all details. But what could hide from the government and from the crowd could not hide from the greatest theologian of his time. St. Gregory clearly saw that the Apollinarians were no less dangerous for the Church than all the other heretics of that time, and therefore he persecuted them everywhere with all the power of his mind, knowledge and energy. “Apparently our real life,” he writes to Nectarius of Constantinople, “has been left in everything without God’s care, which protected the churches in the times before us. And my spirit has fallen so low from the disasters that I do not consider my own sorrows in my life to be misfortunes, although they are very difficult and numerous and, if they happened to anyone else, would seem unbearable, but I look at the general suffering of the churches, the healing of which, if we do not take care at the present time, then things will gradually reach complete hopelessness. The heretics Arians and Eudoxians, I don’t know by whom, driven to madness, as if having received freedom to do so, flaunt their illness, gathering churches, as if they were doing it by right. And the quarrelsome followers of Macedonius have reached such madness that, having appropriated the name of bishops, they appear in our places, calling Eleusius their ordainer. Our domestic evil, Eunomius, is not content with something ordinary, but considers it a loss for himself if he has not carried everyone along with him to destruction. But it's still bearable; Most painful of all in church disasters is the insolence of the Apollinarians, to whom, I don’t know how, your holiness allowed to arrogate to themselves, on an equal basis with us, the power to have their own meetings... For if they are allowed, as pious, to teach in accordance with their way of thinking or to freely preach the teaching they contain, then isn’t this clearly condemning the teaching of the Church, as if the truth is on their side? For it is unnatural for two opposing doctrines about the same thing to be true. How did your highly gifted and lofty mind suffer so as not to take advantage of the usual freedom to heal such evil? But if this was not done before, at least now let your perfection, impeccable in virtue, rise up and convince the most pious king that there will be no benefit from all his concern for the churches if such evil, striving to overthrow the sound faith, increases because of the freedom given to them. But the great theologian did not stop at one piece of advice to take administrative measures against heretics. At the same time, he wrote two rather extensive letters to the presbyter Kledonius, which will forever remain exemplary in the depth of understanding of dogmatic truths and their transparent and clear presentation. To make it easier to convey their teaching to the crowd, the Apollinarians presented it in verse and gave their books the names of the Psalms, New Testament, etc., dear to the Christian heart, and thereby evoked St. Gregory also used poems to counteract the spread of heresy. “If extensive books, new psalms that contradict David, and pleasant verses are considered the third testament, then we will begin to sing psalms, write a lot and recite verses: “I believe that I also have the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 7:40), if only this is the grace of the Spirit, and not a human innovation” 346. And indeed, between the works of St. Gregory has two poems written against the Apollinarians. In the second of them, he gives the following thoughtful answer to a question that defenders of Orthodox teaching often heard against the Apollinarians. You “ask why the mind is so necessary and important for you where God Himself is. But if in Him the flesh is without understanding, then I am deceived. My skin, but whose soul? What does the birth of God from the Virgin mean? How did distant natures come together? It's a mystery; but, as it seems to me, measuring with a small mind what exceeds the mind, the cleansing Spirit descended on the Virgin, and the Word Himself created a person in Her, a complete replacement for the entire deceased 347 person. since God is not united with the flesh, and the soul and mind are something in between, because they coexist with the flesh and because they are the image of God, then God’s nature, uniting with what is akin to Himself, through this akin came into communication with the fatness of the flesh. Thus, both the Deified and the Deified are One God. Therefore, what did both endure? As I reason, one entered into fellowship with the stout, and the other, like the stout, shared my weaknesses, except the infirmity of sin” 349. Another evil from which the Church suffered at that time was the mutual disagreement of the heads of churches among themselves, which was especially evident at the then frequent councils and was extremely harmful to the cause of conciliar deliberations. It was hard for St. to see all this. Gregory. “If I must write the truth,” he writes in response to Procopius in response to the invitation made to him on behalf of Emperor Theodosius to come to one council, “then my thought is to avoid any meeting of bishops, because I have not yet seen a single meeting that would have a useful end in all respects and would more relieve evils than increase them. Curiosity and arrogance (not almost impolite for me to write like this) are beyond any description... Therefore, I closed myself in and recognized silence as the only safety for the soul. And now I am prompted to such a decision by illness, from which I am always almost on my last legs and cannot use myself for anything. Therefore, may your lofty mind forgive me, and through you may the most pious king be convinced not to condemn my laziness, but to excuse my weakness, for which he allowed me to retire, which I asked for myself as a benefit” 350. “You are calling me to you, and I am in a hurry,” he says in another letter to a similar invitation, “but I am in a hurry alone and to get closer to you alone. And I bow to councils and interviews from afar since I experienced a lot (to put it more modestly) of bad things.”351 But, refusing to be at the councils in person, St. Gregory did not remain completely indifferent to what was happening at them, and especially to the results of the council meetings. He understood very well that councils are the most useful institution in the Church, and if they do not always achieve their goal, then it is not the institution that is to blame, but human passions. And therefore he writes the most convincing messages to the influential persons of that time, so that they would prevent, by all means in their power, personal passions and interests from playing out, and would turn the thoughts and concerns of those present exclusively to the cause for which they had gathered. “...Since now there is again a council of bishops,” he writes to the consul Postumian, “I do not know why and how they are being assembled, then do not consider anything so befitting of your leadership as this one thing, so that under your leadership and your labors the churches should be pacified, even if for this it would be necessary to punish the rebels with special severity. And if I seem strange that, having retired from business, I do not abandon my worries, do not be surprised at this. Although I gave up the throne and high rank to those who wished, I did not give up piety with this; but I think that now I will seem to you worthy of trust even more than before, as serving not my own, but the common good” 352. “With God’s help, everything is going well for me,” he writes to another then-consul, Saturninus, “except for one thing, that I am worried about the churches, which are in such turmoil. And if you can help them in any way, do not be lazy in word and deed to restore general harmony; because again there is a council of bishops, and it is dangerous that even now we will not remain in shame if this council has almost the same end as the previous one” 353. Two incidents in the life of St. date back to the same time of the secondary administration of the Nazianz Church. Gregory, which are worth noting. First case. The government, for unknown reasons, decided, as can be guessed from one letter to St. Gregory to Olympius, to limit the rights of Diocaesarian citizens 354. Citizens were unhappy with this order. And some restless people among them took advantage of this discontent and incited a crowd of young people to openly murmur against the government. This murmur was taken for a riot, and the city was threatened with deprivation of all city rights and conversion to a village. The citizens asked Gregory to deflect the blow from them through his intercession. And indeed, St. Gregory hastened to help the city that was in danger - he wrote a strong letter to the ruler of the Olympia district and convinced him to look at the displeasure expressed by the citizens more leniently. Diokesarea escaped 355. Another case. Bosporius, Bishop of Colony 356, old comrade of St. Gregory by upbringing, a man of impeccable convictions and life, was slandered - accused of heresy. The slander had no basis, as St. knew very well. Gregory, who had long known the bishop’s Orthodox way of thinking. And the great saint energetically stood up for the honor of his friend and, with his letters to the bishops of Constantinople Nectarius and Theodore of Tyana, convinced them of the Orthodoxy of Vosporia. This matter appears to be of a completely private nature. But if we remember what the accusation of heresy meant at that time, we will easily understand that, by providing a service to the innocently slandered bishop, St. Gregory rendered a service to the entire Church, because he saved it from needless troubles and one unnecessary temptation 357. This is all the information that has been preserved about the social activities of the great saint during the last seven years of his life in Arianza. But then, all the more precious for us is the (also, admittedly, meager) information that has come to us exclusively in the works that remained after him, about his private relationships with the few relatives, friends and acquaintances that remained with him, about his inclinations, affections, household activities and the prevailing mood of the soul in this last time of his life. These testimonies show the deep, richly gifted, inexhaustible soul of St. Gregory. During the time we are talking about, at St. Gregory, of all his relatives, only the family of his niece Alipiana 358 and six or seven more relatives 359 remained. This family consisted of Alipiana herself, her husband Nikovul and two or three sons, of whom the eldest was also called Nikovul 360. The care of St. Gregory knew no bounds about this family. He attended to all his needs, rejoiced at his joys, suffered through his sorrows and hurried to help in case of adversity or misfortune. This truly family caring was especially focused on the niece's children. He finds for them the best mentors in all the sciences that were part of the then education 361, and to these selected mentors he writes frequent letters in which he inquires about the successes of the boys, notes the weaknesses of his young favorites, asks teachers to pay attention to these weaknesses and expresses his views on education in general. He showed especially tender concern for the eldest of them, Nikovul, a very talented boy, but somewhat lazy. “Here’s a reminder of our friendship for you,” he writes to Hellas, “my dearest son Nikovul, about whom I care primarily before all my relatives! You will do me a great favor by presenting him as the most zealous of mentors; and you will show even greater mercy by accustoming his character to virtue” 362. And when the boy was introduced to one of these teachers - Stagirius, then St. Gregory writes to this latter: “I have a lot in common with you, but one thing replaces everything and is higher than everything else - this is our dearest son Nikovul, who is placed between us. By doing good to him, you will prove both your learning and our friendship..." 363. To another mentor of Nikovul, the rhetorician Eudoxius, a caring grandfather writes: “Again, my Nikovul comes to you, and again I bother you with my excess, urging you on, when you yourself are really running away. But since this young man has naturally happy talents, unless I am deceived by the desire to see him as such, but, as often happens with gifted people, he is somewhat negligent and needs encouragement, then replace this with your own efforts and (I will say in your way), imitating the grasshopper mentioned in the fable, using your voice instead of the broken string, finish the song” 364 . He made the same requests to the teachers when other children of his niece 365 came to them. He also writes to strangers who could be of some use to the young people. “The children of my most venerable son Nikobul,” he writes to Theodore, Bishop of Tyana, “arrived in the city to learn cursive writing; deign, above all else, to look at them favorably and fatherly (the rules do not prohibit this); also make sure that they live closer to the church. I would like their morals to improve in virtue when they have the opportunity to constantly see your perfection” 366. But then the caring grandfather receives from one of his beloved grandson’s mentors a good review of his successes and hurries to respond to this news with undisguised joy: “And what you write about your dearest son Nikovul is very important, surprising and enough to captivate the good nature of the father, who is ready to believe everything that is desirable for him. But then I will accept this as truth when the young man, having presented me with experiments, turns out to be not unworthy either of your promises or of our hopes” 367. They received no less love and care from St. Gregory and the rest of the family. At the request of the elder Nikovul, he collects and sends all his letters to him as a souvenir 368, asking for peace from business 369 for him. And when evil people, shortly before benefited by St. Gregory 370, tried to mix an innocent family in the case of the slaves of Nikovul, who were indignant for some reason, 371 and he was in dire danger - of being enslaved himself with the whole family, then St. Gregory writes the most convincing letters to the ruler of Nazianza, Olympius, and his assistant, 372 in which he proves the innocence of the unjustly accused family and turns away the storm that has gathered from him. ""What is this?" “You might say,” he writes in his second letter to Asterius (Olympius’s assistant) and the third about this subject. – Gregory writes to us again; more letters, more requests? What gluttony, which I myself am the cause of! No, wonderful husband, don't say that. For whom are the harbours, if not for the overwhelmed? For whom are medicines if not for the sick? May we not be deprived of them, and all the more so the more we are confident that we have strength from you. I no longer ask, but demand, because mercy calls for mercy. Nikovul is subjected to violence, and this is the same as what I myself am subjected to, because he is my resting place. How is it possible to remain silent and not be bothersome, even with all wisdom? Give your hand to those who are oppressed, so that you yourself may be rewarded with the same from God, which, of course, you need as a person” 373. But one misfortune was barely averted thanks to the intervention of St. Gregory, as an ill-fated family, suffered another, already irresistible. Soon after this, the head of the family passed away. The remaining minors, still orphans, together with their mother, were subjected to insults and oppression from unkind neighbors 374. And St. Gregory again hurries with his beneficent intercession to the powers that be: he again writes to the new ruler of Nazianza, Gregory, and his assistant and asks them to protect the oppressed orphans. “I hand over to you my Nikovul and his brothers, not so that he will be put on trial, but so that he will receive satisfaction at the trial. I hand over their mother, an elderly widow, and the house, which was once glorious and prominent while Nikovul, who meant a lot to us, was alive, but now does not have the freedom to cry because of the disasters that have already befallen and are expected, unless it is pleasing to you and your justice to stand contrary to the evil demon - to honor me, respect humanity and make a brilliant beginning for yourself with the benefit shown to us" 375. But either the request of the famous intercessor was not respected, or the matter was such that it exceeded the circle of power of the ruler, only it was transferred to Constantinople, where the oppressed widow also went to personally monitor its progress, admonished by a letter from St. Gregory to Nektarios, Bishop of Constantinople. This is what the famous intercessor wrote in it: “What would you do if I personally had to deal with the matter? As is obvious, he would have made every effort to save me from the offense, if we conclude this from what has gone before. Show me the same mercy now in the person of my most well-behaved niece, who, through my mediation, herself falls to you; respect the age of the petitioner, respect her morals and reverence, which is why she is unlike many women; Besides this, respect her womanly inexperience in business and the fact that she is now dealing with her own, and most of all, respect my request. The greatest mercy for her is the speed of the benefit I ask for. For even the unrighteous judge mentioned in the Gospel showed kindness to the widow, but he did so after a long and persistent request (Luke 18:1-7). And she asks you for speed, so as not to languish her for a long time with the worries and disadvantages of life on someone else’s side, although most of all I know clearly that your piety will make the other side her own for her.”376 To the tender care of St. Gregory and the grateful family responded with love and all possible helpfulness: Nikovul the Younger carried his letters to people to whom, due to illness, the holy grandfather could not appear himself, despite all his desires 377 , and Nikovul the Elder accompanied him on his difficult journeys to warm waters or to meet with friends who often invited him 378 . Once such a journey was delayed halfway through the journey by intensifying attacks of St. Gregory, and the travelers were forced to stop for some time in one monastery in order to use the baths there 379. Forgetting himself and his illness, the sufferer cared only about his companion, who, unaccustomed to such travel, was bored with the sick old man in a secluded monastery. And so he writes to Olympius (the ruler of Nazianza): “I found that the son Nicobulus was very worried about both the continuation of the journey and the constant stay in the monastery, like a weak man, not accustomed to this and bored by loneliness. Deign to use it for any other purpose you please, because it is ready to serve your authority in everything; but spare me, if possible, from this concern, if for nothing else, then out of respect for the fact that he follows me, the sick one.”380 In general, St. Gregory calls his nephew “his guardian in old age and illness, the support and rod of his weakness” and admits that he himself “loves him more than others” 381. St. were not forgotten. Gregory and his other relatives - he took care of them with complete selflessness. He writes letters of recommendation 382 in favor of some, and petitions for others 383; This was the only possible means in his situation to help his relatives. He could not help those in need with money, because he himself had nothing; he had no direct influence on affairs, because he renounced his official position; and therefore he could either confine himself to advice or ask for help from others. And he did both with complete readiness. But not only close and distant relatives enjoyed the love and helpful readiness to help on the part of St. Gregory. His love was enough for everyone - both his own and strangers, both near and far. He found the opportunity to say a kind word about everyone, give good advice to everyone, support everyone in a holy determination for good, help everyone, console everyone, support, protect, guide 384. St. took a particularly active part. Gregory in the affairs of orphans, innocently oppressed and slandered, the sick and those who dedicated themselves to serving the Lord. In such cases, he forgot both summer and constant illnesses and rushed to help with selfless selflessness. “I present to you the unfortunate Philumena,” he writes to the ruler Olympius about one unjustly offended widow, “so that she may fall to your justice and, through your mediation, dry the tears with which she is crushing my soul. What kind of insults she suffers and from whom, she will explain it herself, because for me it is not safe to blame anyone. I myself need to say one thing: that widowhood and orphanhood have the right to help as in general any prudent person, especially those who have a wife and children - this great guarantee of mercy...” 385 “...Give your hand to noble women,” he writes in favor of other offended Bishop Theodore of Tian, “and do not allow them to be oppressed by the power of the person with whom they entered into business, but help them as they should.” 386. “I hear that you do not behave wisely in suffering, and I do not praise it,” he writes to the sophist Timothy, “for one must write the truth, especially to a friend and a person who is distinguished by righteousness. About this, as I assure myself, I reason very correctly: I do not praise either extreme insensibility or strong sensitivity to suffering; the former is inhuman, the latter is unwise. But we must follow the middle path and show that we are more wise than those who are very impatient and closer to humanity than those who are overly wise.”387 “...Rely on me in everything with confidence,” he writes to the hermit Thekla, “that you do not have a person who would be sincere to you and care as much about you as about himself, if our long-standing acquaintance and actual experience have not yet convinced you of this” 388. Actual experience has long since convinced the relatives and friends of St. of this truth. Gregory, and now they are vying with each other to show attention to the famous saint. Some invite him to holidays, others to a wedding celebration. But bodily suffering (and perhaps mental inclinations) do not allow the sick old man to take advantage of these invitations. But in such cases, he always hastens to apologize to those who invited 389 and at least respond in writing to their joy. “Ebopia is your beloved,” he writes to his friend Eusebius. - The time has come for marriage, the foundation of life has been laid, parental vows have been fulfilled. But I am not with you, who especially should have been with you and united my prayers with yours, as I promised, because hope followed desire, and desire is enough to deceive oneself. And repeatedly getting ready to set off, and repeatedly postponing the journey until the time was right, I finally overcame the disease. So, let others call erotes to you, because at a wedding it is customary to joke; let others depict the beauty of the maiden, magnify the courtesy of the groom, and shower the wedding bed with flowers with words of greetings. And I will sing to you a wedding song: “The Lord will bless you from Zion, He Himself will unite your marriage, and the sons will see your sons (Ps. 127:5, 6), there will not be much to say that are even better than you. This is what I would wish for you if I were with you; I wish this now too. Let the rest be left to your care, may your father place crowns on you, as he wished; I prescribed this, as if I myself were at the wedding. Their crowns will be, and my prayers, which, as far as I know, are not limited to place” 390. “I know your accusations,” he writes to Procopius, “although you are silent. You say correctly: “Here we celebrated the marriage (the marriage of your golden Olympiad), we had many bishops; but you, good husband, were not with us, either without honoring us with your presence, or because you were lazy.” Neither one nor the other, my wonderful one. But I think that for those who are in a sad situation, it is impossible for them to celebrate cheerfully; and, moreover, it is completely inappropriate to carry two sick legs at a wedding feast and see them laughing among those jumping, so that you can joke a little in a wedding way. And with my desire I am with you and celebrate with you; I join your young hands one with the other and place them both in the right hand of God. For just as everything else is good for you, it follows that this marriage should lead to everything that is best and correspond to our common desires” 391. It was not holidays and wedding festivities that the soul of the great saint thirsted for, but silence, solitary abodes, and severe feats. He came to such monasteries both by invitation and without invitation and lived there until his health allowed him or until some random circumstances forced him to leave there. Thus, from his letters we learn that on Holy Pentecost he sometimes retired to Lamis and there condemned himself to the strictest silence. Once, the then ruler of Nazianza, Keleusius, visited the famous hermit in this secluded refuge. True to his vow, the hermit accepted it in silence. The ruler was probably offended, and so he wrote the following letter to him: “Since you, kind and polite, accuse me of silence and discourtesy, then, if you please, I will compose for you a not entirely awkward fable. Won't I use it to wean you from talkativeness? The swallows laughed at the swans because they do not want to live with people and do not show others their skill in singing, but spend their lives in meadows and rivers, love solitude, and although they sing occasionally, whatever they sing, they sing to themselves, as if ashamed of their singing. “And we,” said the swallows, “love cities, people, towers, chat with people, tell them this and that about ourselves, what happened in the old days in Attica, about Pandion, about Athens, about Tyreus, about Thrace, about departure, wedding, desecration, cutting of the language, writing, and above all about Itis and how from people we became birds.” The swans, not liking to speak, did not deign to speak to them for a long time; when they deigned to give an answer, they said: “And we reason that someone else will come for us into the desert to listen to singing, when we give our wings to the zephyr for sweet and euphonious inspirations. Therefore, we sing not much and not in front of many. But this is our perfection, that we bring out our songs in a measured manner and do not merge our singing with any noise. And you are a burden to the people in whose house you live; they turn away when you sing; and they act justly when you cannot remain silent, although your tongue has been cut out, but you yourself, complaining about your voicelessness and such loss, are more talkative than any other vocal and singing bird." Understand what I am saying, says Pindar, and if you find that my voicelessness is better than your eloquent speech, then stop showering reproaches on my silence. Or I will tell you a proverb that is as fair as it is short: then the swans will sing when the jackdaws are silent” 392. In a letter to Cledonius, he explains the purpose of the silence imposed on himself: “You ask: what does my silence require? Does it require measure in words and in silence; The great hermit broke his vow of silence on Easter: “With Christ I killed my tongue when I fasted, and I resolved it together with the Risen One. Such is the secret of my silence, so that just as I sacrifice the innermost mind, so I offer the purified word” 394. And indeed, he brought this word in the inspired Word on the day of Easter: “I will stand on my watch,” says the wonderful Habakkuk (Hab. 2:1). I will stand with him now, and I, according to the power and contemplation given to me by God [the Spirit], will look and find out what will be shown to me and what will be spoken. I stood and looked: and behold a man ascended on the clouds, a very tall man, “and his image was like the image of an angel” (Judges 13:6), and his clothing was like the flash of fleeting lightning. He raised his hands to the east, exclaimed with a loud voice (and his voice was like the voice of a trumpet and around him, as it were, “many howls of heaven” - Luke 2:13) and said: “Now is salvation for the world, the visible world and the invisible world! Christ from the dead - rise with Him, too; Christ in his glory - rise also you; Christ from the grave - free yourself from the bonds of sin; the gates are opened hell, death is destroyed, the old Adam is put aside, the new is made: “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17); So he spoke, and others sang the same as before, when Christ appeared to us through his birth: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14)” 395. Besides Lamis, St. Gregory sometimes retired for ascetic deeds to the Sannavadain monastery. He greatly respected this monastery and its worthy abbot Levkady. And when this latter died (387–388), shortly before the death of St. Gregory, that sad brotherhood was consoled by the full of sympathy letter from the famous guest of Sannavadain. In this letter, he advises the brethren to imprint in their lives the purity of the deceased abbot, his “lack of anger, humility, active wisdom, the incessant striving of the soul for God, unentertainment by the delights of this world,” so that, seeing all this in each other, they could portray a monument to him in themselves 396. But perhaps more often and no longer than anywhere else, the great hermit lived in Karvali, in the monastery [dedicated to the memory of] martyrs. At least his letters mention her more often than others. But this monastery of St., dear to him. Gregory had to leave, because some Valentinian settled some women near her, probably not entirely with a pure purpose, as one can guess from a letter to him from St. Gregory. “They are driving us out of Karvala in the most wicked way (I will use the word tragedy, changing it a little), they are driving us away not in word, but in deed itself, and very cruelly. For it would be much better to declare the order of removal as an explicit command, rather than to violate the sanctity of our life by settling women directly opposite us and adding daily shame and blasphemy from those who freely abuse those who have chosen such a life as ours. Therefore our matter is over. We were outwitted, gave ourselves up to flight, subjected ourselves to punishment, abandoning both the work of our hands and our hopes, and making many excuses before the holy martyrs.”397 But near the abandoned monastery there remained one pious old woman, a hermit 398, who suffered three sorrows at once - an unpleasant neighborhood, the death of her brother, and the loss of an experienced leader in the person of St. Gregory. And here is St. Gregory writes letters of comfort to the hermit from his Arianza. “I received your small note like a big letter. And you are mine, and I am yours - this is how the Spirit unites us. Should you write to me about your sorrows? Unless I express the desire that you, taking this as an opportunity to show high wisdom, be patient in suffering and thereby resist those who cause you sorrow, because to do otherwise is both impossible and ungodly.”399 To inform the hermit about the death of her brother and to invite her to visit the monastery of St. Gregory answered: “I myself was eager for your reverence, despite the ailments of my body, wanting to visit you and at the same time praise you for the patience with which you are wise, having lost your most blessed brother, because this is certain. But since I am delayed by one circumstance, it became necessary to write to you, and now I will have a little love with you about your loss...” 400. But St. Gregory finally managed to visit the pious hermit, and now he writes to her again: “You lament, as probably, about my departure; but for me the separation from your reverence is even more regrettable. However, I thank God that I could reach you, and I do not complain about the extra work. For I saw the firmness of your faith in Christ, and your praiseworthy solitude, and your wise hermitage; I saw that you, having withdrawn from all the pleasures of the world, lead a reclusive life with the One God and with the holy martyrs, with whom you settled, and offered yourself and your beloved children to God as a living, acceptable sacrifice. Let this be a consolation for you in your sorrows. Did the haters cause us grief? And we will protect the soul from servility to passions. Through this we will maintain the upper hand over those who insulted us. Consider also that for whom we grieve, is it not those who have passed away? But how can we please them? Is it not our patience? Therefore, we will bring this as a gift. For I am sure that the souls of the saints see our deeds. And above all, and first of all, let us consider that it is inappropriate both to be wise without need, and to be unwise in suffering and not serve as an example for others of both gratitude in complacency and patience in grief. I am writing this not to teach you as one who does not know, but to remind you as one who is knowledgeable. And may the God of consolation keep you invulnerable in your suffering and grant me to see your reverence and to be convinced by my very deeds that my labor was not in vain, but that I mean a little more to you than others, and that just as we had common sorrow, so in wisdom you will be my accomplice, which perhaps our gray hair and our labors for the sake of God require.”401 In general, the heart of St. Gregory, now more than ever, with all his love, with all his aspirations, gravitated toward ascetic deeds and those people who devoted themselves to these deeds. “Let us pass from here” (Mark 14:42), he writes to the rhetorician Eudoxius, let us become men, abandon dreams, let us not dwell on the shadows, let us leave to others the pleasures or, more often, the sorrows of life. Let others be mocked, others be played with and tossed around by envy, time and chance, as they call the impermanence and irregularity of everything human. Away from us, high ranks, power, wealth, splendor, exaltation, fall - this worthless and despicable glory, the one extolled by which suffers more disgrace than the one ridiculed! Away from us, these children's games and performances on this great disgrace! We will stick to our word and in return for everything we will desire to have God - the only eternal good that is characteristic of us, in order to earn us approval even here for the fact that, while still so small, we are looking for something so great, or certainly there." 402 And how the famous ascetic rejoiced when he learned that one of his friends and acquaintances had chosen a wise life for himself! He immediately hurried to respond and support the novice ascetic on his difficult road. “I hear that you live as a hermit,” he writes to a certain Omophronius. - Oh, if only you could become John the Baptist or Elijah the Carmelite with us! And oh, if only the haters would cause that one insult, that they would bring us to God and force those freed from affairs and rebellion to sincerely devote themselves to heavenly things, and thus unwittingly do good to us when they cannot do it of their own free will” 403 . For St. himself Gregory's ascetic deeds turned into an urgent need. Despite his constant illnesses, which often did not allow him to move from place to place without the help of others, he was now the same ascetic as he was in the Pontic desert of his great friend. While still bidding farewell to the Constantinople flock, he solemnly declared before them that “if for some human and insignificant plans or to receive this see at the beginning I had appeared to you with this gray hair and with these limbs bent from time and illness, and now I would have endured so many dishonors, then. I would be ashamed of my exploits, and labors, and these hair clothes, and the desert, and the solitude with which I had become accustomed, and the carefree life and the low-value meal, which was not much more expensive than the meal of the birds of the air” 404. Now, approaching the end of his lonely and sorrowful life, the famous ascetic found in these exploits not only the satisfaction of his spiritual needs, but also relief from his painful sufferings and sorrows. “I do not have a caring wife who would save me from incurable worries and heal the mourning person with her caresses. Dear children, in whose presence old age is encouraged and again begins to walk in youthful steps, do not amuse me. Neither my half-bloods nor my friends console me: some were kidnapped by cruel death, others, loving good fortune, become agitated at the slightest disturbance that overtakes a friend. I had one wonderful consolation. Like a thirsty deer in a cool spring, so I found him in the company of perfect and Christ-bearing people, living on earth above the flesh, lovers of the eternal Spirit and good service, not bound by the bonds of marriage, despisers of the world.” “I am dead to life, barely catching my breath on the ground. I run from cities and people, I talk with animals and with cliffs, alone, far from others I live in a dark and unfinished cave, in one tunic, without shoes, without fire, I feed only on hope and have turned into a reproach to all earth-born. My bed is tree branches, my bed is a reliable hair shirt and dust on the floor, soaked with tears” 405. Such was the great saint in his external relations, in his affections and sympathies before his family and strangers! It remains to be seen what he was like before himself, in a frank confession to his conscience. He left this confession to us in his poems full of fire, life and holy inspiration. They were the fruit of those difficult moments in the life of the saint, when his painful suffering did not allow him to do anything else. These poems can be called dying poems, if not in terms of the time of their writing (because it cannot be determined with certainty), then at least in terms of content, spirit and tone. They served him for a double purpose - to convey his life and deeds to posterity in their true light and for entertainment in moments of sorrow and suffering. “The purpose of this word,” he begins his autobiography, “is to depict the course of my misfortunes, and perhaps the happy circumstances of life, because one will call them this way, another another, in whatever mood I think he will be in.”406. “Exhausted by illness, I found consolation in poetry, like an elderly swan, retelling to myself the broadcasts of the flapping wings - this not lamentable, but the original song” 407. These poems, as well as other works written at that time, clearly reflected the mental state of the great saint, so that they can very happily complement and enclose the picture of his external life and external relations in recent years. This state of affairs was sad. Behind us is a life full of losses, trials and sorrows; ahead lies the inevitable death without family consolations, without the warm participation of those close to our hearts. In the present there is sad loneliness, constantly disturbed by the petty intrigues of even smaller envious people and ill-wishers. Torment and suffering from illness and the bitter consciousness of one’s moral impurity before the Most Holy of Holies further intensified the bitterness of this state. And it resolves with a verse that pierces the soul. “The gray head and wrinkled body bowed to the evening of a mournful life. But I have never experienced such strong and numerous sorrows before. I did not suffer so much when, setting out for Achaia from the Pharos land, I encountered a sea stormed by fierce winds. Nor did I suffer so much when the foundations of the vast and trembling Hellas were shaking. I was not so afraid when illness filled my mouth with its devouring breath, constricting the passages of breathing and the paths of life. I have suffered many disasters. But until now I have never encountered such misfortunes as those that finally struck my ill-fated soul.”408 “My dear land, and the sea, and the native and foreign side, and youth and gray hair in the west of life, and winged speeches - in vain, and those speeches that the bright spirit gave birth to, and cities, and my refuge - the cliffs that I just walked around, trying to get closer to the Divinity of Christ! Why did I alone walk the sorrowful path, both here and there, changing the way of a difficult life? I have never once been able to firmly plant my light foot on the earth, but only disasters incessantly lead me to greater disasters” 409. “Woe is me! I am exhausted, O my Christ, the Breath of men! What a fight I have with my flesh-wife! How many storms it causes! How long life is, how long residence is! How many struggles both within and without, in which the beauty of the image of God can be damaged! What oak can withstand such violence of the winds? What kind of ship fights such waves? I am overwhelmed by work and the confluence of things. It was not of my own volition that I took upon myself the care of my parents’ home. But when I entered it, I found it plundered. My friends left me exhausted and my illness exhausted me. Others are greeted with flowers, but I was greeted with stones. The people over whom the Spirit had placed me over were taken away from me. I left some children behind, separated from others, and others did not honor me. Truly, I am a pitiful father! Those who made sacrifices with me became more hostile to me than my enemies themselves: they did not respect the mysterious Meal, they did not respect the labors I had previously endured. They don’t think at all about drowning out the rumors about the insults inflicted on me, but they are after one thing - my disgrace” 410. “I would like to become either a light-winged dove or a swallow in order to escape from human life or settle in some desert and live in the same shelter with animals, because they are more faithful than people” 411. “But I do not so much lament about the loss of property, which I wanted to make the common property of those in need, I do not so much lament about an insult that is hateful to every mortal, although it can most likely lead to anger in a meek person; I do not so much mourn for my half-blooded ones, whom the coffin hides from me, kidnapping them prematurely, when they aroused the surprise of all earthly beings, as I cry for my soul, for I see that this beautiful and great queen, the daughter of noble kings, is exhausted under the weight of insoluble shackles. Her enemies captured her by force of arms, subjected her to difficult slavery, and she casts her sad eyes to the ground. Such is my suffering; This is the wound that I carry in my heart!” “I will not stop lamenting until I have escaped the deplorable enslavement to sin, until I have closed with the key of the mind the insane passions to which the cruel Satan has now opened all the entrances, although they did not have access to me before, when God’s hand covered me and sin did not have such a substance nearby that would easily and quickly ignite, like straw not only ignites from the approach of fire, but, blown by the wind, forms a high flaming flame. pillar" 412 . “The last feat of life is near; the thin voyage is over; I already see execution for a hated sin, I see gloomy Tartarus, a fiery flame, deep night and the shame of exposed deeds that are now hidden. But have mercy, O Blessed One, and grant me at least a good evening, looking graciously at the rest of my life! I have suffered a lot, and my thoughts are filled with fear: have not the terrible scales of your justice, O King, already begun to pursue me?” 413 “The flower has fallen, the time of harvest is approaching. My hair turned white; the threshing floor calls to itself the ear; there is no longer any unripeness in the berry; The gathering of grapes is near. The winepress of my suffering is already being worn out. O my evil day! How can I avoid him? What will happen to me? How terrible sin is to me; how terrible it is to find yourself full of thorns and the grapes of Gomorrah, when Christ begins to judge the gods, to reward each according to his dignity and assign a country as much light as the eye can bear! My only hope is that under Your guidance, O Blessed One, in these short days I will again turn to You.”414 An unbearable illness and a bleak living situation forced the holy sufferer to ask for relief from his suffering. “But command me, O Christ, to finally become healthy! Your word is medicine for me. I am the new Lazarus among the dead, but say: arise! And according to Your word the dead man will live.” 415 He asked not so much for relief from suffering as for others, so that the faint-hearted would not be tempted by them: “I lament; the disease will take hold of my members. However, I don’t complain so much because of the illness: it also serves as some kind of cleansing for my spiritual part, and everyone needs cleansing, no matter how strong he is; because these very bonds collect some kind of blackness for mortals. But in my sorrows I am much more concerned about the faint-hearted; I’m afraid that one of them will stumble when they see my misfortunes” 416. But more often, the great sufferer prayed to God to remove the heavy burden of life from him and take it to Himself: “... I am weary of life; I can barely catch my breath on the ground, vulnerable to many disasters from enemies and friends, which saddens me beyond measure. That’s why I cry and fall at Your knees. Give the end of life to Thy dead man, give rest to the weary, and lead me to the easiest life, for which I endure sorrows and have endured thousands of sorrows; having delighted the angelic faces, bring the traveler closer to the heavenly chamber, where is the glory of the One Great God, shining in three Lights” 417. The prayer of the great sufferer was heard. In 389, on January 25, the long-suffering worker, who worked with selfless selflessness in God’s great, beautiful and blooming vineyard from early morning until late evening, rested from his labors. Reprinted from: Christian Reading. St. Petersburg, 1863. Part 2. No. 6. P. 147–193. This cathedral was assembled generally for the organization of church affairs. Among them, the affairs of the churches of Antioch and Constantinople occupied first place. In Antioch at that time there were two bishops - Meletius and Paulinus, and in Constantinople St. Gregory occupied the throne temporarily. Thus, the council was supposed to resolve the dispute between Meletius and Paulinus about the throne of Antioch and approve St. Gregory on the throne of Constantinople. St. Gregory the Theologian. A poem in which Saint Gregory retells his life // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 231. – Ed. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Dream about the Church of Anastasia // Ibid. P. 267. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 94. To Amazon // Ibid. P. 476. St. Gregory the Theologian. To myself // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 278. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 90. To Procopius // Ibid. P. 474. St. Gregory the Theologian. Prayer in illness // Ibid. P. 314. St. Gregory the Theologian. The sick person’s prayer to Christ // Ibid. P. 275. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 133. To Victor // Ibid. S. 500. St. Gregory the Theologian. On human nature // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 114. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 125. To Olympius // Ibid. P. 496. The monastery of this St. Grigory does not call by name. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 126. To Olympius // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 496. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 210. To him [To Castor] // Ibid. P. 543. From the letters of St. Gregory, it is clear that he did not immediately take over the administration of the Nazianzi Church upon his return from Constantinople to Arians. In a letter to Bishop Theodore of Tian, ​​he says: “Since you expressed your displeasure, decrying my removal, and I myself could not bear the reproaches that everyone made to me, the time was difficult, we were threatened with an invasion of enemies to the general detriment of the entire Church; then I am finally defeated and recognize a victory over myself, painful for the body, but not bad, perhaps for the soul. I give this humble body to the Church as long as it is able, recognizing that it is better for myself to suffer something in the flesh rather than suffer in spirit and bring into suffering many who have a bad opinion of me, because they themselves suffer” (St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 139. To Bishop Theodore // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. Vol. 2. P. 502–503). The first time he ruled it during his father’s life, as his assistant, and after his death (374) and before his departure to Constantinople (378) independently. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 125. To Olympius // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 496. This was the Second Ecumenical Council. The Bishop of Tyana was the metropolitan of the ecclesiastical district to which the Nazianza Church belonged, which is why St. Gregory calls it his church. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 152. To Theodore, Bishop of Tyana // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. pp. 510–511. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 183. To Theodore, Bishop // Ibid. P. 526. Comparing the rather vague hints in this letter about the intrigue that was waged against St. Gregory Elladius, with other places in the works of the holy father, one can guess that Elladius did not believe in the disorder of the health of St. Gregory and secretly found out whether he was really as ill as he said and how one could conclude from his frequent absences for warm waters. Moreover, there are reasons to think that St. Gregory almost ruled the Nazianzi church from Arianz. This was all the easier because Arianz was very close to Nazianz, and for the sick and upset saint it was all the more convenient because here he had his parents’ house, a kindergarten, near a grove and springs... At least, not in a single letter, not in a single essay written by St. Gregory during the last seven years of his life, he does not say that he lived in Nazianza, while he often speaks of his home in Arianza. Moreover, one letter to Bishop Theodore of Tyana has survived, in which St. Gregory invites this bishop to the feast of martyrs and “to discuss church affairs” in Arians. In any case, there is no doubt that St. Gregory lived more often in Arianza than in Nazianza (see: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letters 122 and 123. To Theodore, Bishop of Tyana // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. Vol. 2. P. 495). All this taken together gave rise to numerous ill-wishers of St. Gregory, including Hellas, to interpret that, under the pretext of illness, he cares only about the comforts of life and does not care at all about the church, the management of which he has assumed. St. Gregory the Theologian. To myself // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. pp. 278–279. This was probably the chorebishop Eulalia whom St. Gregory sent, together with Celevsius, to the Bishop of Tyana to petition for his dismissal from the leadership of the Nazianzi Church. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 182. To Gregory of Nyssa // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 525. St. Gregory the Theologian. To Nektarios (Epistle 2) // Ibid. pp. 537–538. St. Gregory the Theologian. To Presbyter Kledonius against Apollinaris, first (Epistle 3) // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 485. That is, with roughness, density. – Ed. St. Gregory the Theologian. On the Incarnation (against Apollinaris) // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 31. The same character of opposition to modern heresies is evident in the “Mysterious Hymns” written, obviously at the same time (and placed in the second volume of the Works of St. Gregory the Theologian in the section “Dogmatic Poems”, 1–5). St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 130. To Procopius // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 498. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 124. To Theodore, Bishop of Tyana // Ibid. P. 495. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 173. To Postumian // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 520. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 132. To Saturninus // Ibid. P. 499. Letter 133 to Victor (pp. 499–500) and letter 136 to Mardarius the military leader (p. 501) have similar contents. There were then three cities with the name Diocaesarea: the one we are talking about was in Cappadocia, in the Patriarchate of Constantinople; another in Isauria, in the north of Seleucia, in the patriarchate of Antioch, and a third in Palestine, in the patriarchate of Jerusalem. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 141. To him [To Olympius] // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. pp. 503–505. There were seven cities bearing the name Colony: one, simply Colonia, lay on the road from London to Carlyle, this is the present Colchester; the other is Colonia Allobrogum, present-day Geneva; the third is Colonia Augusta, present Nims; the fourth is Colonia Augusta Rhetorum et Vindelicorum, present-day Augsburg; the fifth is Colonia Iulia, present-day Bonn; sixth - Colonia Agrippina-Ubiorum or Colonia Agrippinensis, on the banks of the Rhine; the seventh is Colonia Senensis, present-day Siena in Italy. It is unknown which of these seven cities Bosporius was bishop of. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 183. To Theodore Bishop // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 525–526; Letter 185. To Nectarius // Ibid. pp. 527–528. This was the daughter of Gorgonia, sister of St. Gregory. In his letters to St. Gregory calls his relatives: the virgin Amazonia, two brothers - Elladius and Eulalia, Euthymius, Eustratius and Valentinian. But the degree of relationship of these persons with St. We have no means of determining Gregory. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 147. To Asterius // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 508. What did St. want to teach his grandchildren? Gregory, as can be seen from the following words he puts into the mouth of Nikovul the Younger: “The fiery power of eloquence in popular, judicial and commendable speeches is wonderful; but it is also wonderful to have a mind enriched with history, because history is the storehouse of wisdom, the mind of many. But grammar is also important, which perfectly contributes to the noble language of Hellas, smoothing out the word and softening the barbaric sounds. Also important are the competitions of logical art, which at first obscure the truth until, through a possible transformation of the concept, they present it in full light. Also important is the science through which accomplished men form good morals in a person, like cottage cheese that takes the form of a wicker vessel. It is also important that wise men, with a soaring mind, through ingenious research, each surveying his own area, discovered in the depths and committed to books. They understood the nature of things, both air and earth, and sea and heaven, and moreover, they comprehended the thought of the ineffable God, they understood how God controls the universe, where he leads it and what end is laid for the whole world, full of many beauties. They have studied and understood what is beyond the understanding of mortals. But, having studied this in my youth, I will surrender my thought to the Divine Spirit, I will seek traces of hidden beauties, constantly ascend to the light and accept Divine suggestions as the standard of life, so that, having Christ as an assistant, and companion, and leader, with light hopes I will ascend from here, to be worthy of a pure and unceasing life, not from afar, as if in a mirror and water, to see weak images truth, but to contain with pure eyes the truth itself, in which the first and last is the Trinity, the one-honored Divinity, the one light in three equally Divine radiances. This is what I wish, parent, fulfill my hope” (St. Gregory the Theologian. From Nicobulus the Son to the Father // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. pp. 342–343). St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 167. To Helladius // Ibid. P. 518. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 188. To Stagirius // Ibid. P. 529. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 175. To Eudoxius the rhetorician // Ibid. P. 521. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 174. To him // Ibid. pp. 520–521. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 157. To Theodore, Bishop of Tyana // Ibid. P. 513. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 187. To Eudoxius // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 528. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 52. To Nikovul // Ibid. P. 452. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 127. To Helladius // Ibid. P. 497. From a letter to St. Gregory to Ekivolius (196) it is clear that Nikovul the elder was in military service: “...they had a good father [Nikovol], who served the kings a lot with weapons in his hands, and not ingloriously, but with great honor...”. In his letter to St. Gregory does not call these people by name. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 146. To Olympius // Ibid. pp. 507–508. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 148. To Asterius // Ibid. pp. 508–509. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 196. To Ekivolius // Ibid. pp. 533–534. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 195. To Gregory the Archon // Ibid. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 186. To Nectarius // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 528. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 224. To Africanus // Ibid. P. 551. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 126. To Olympius // Ibid. pp. 496–497. St. Gregory in his letter does not say what kind of monastery this is, but it is clear that it is not the same as the monastery of martyrs and the Sannavadain monastery, which will be discussed below. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 126. To Olympius // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 497. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 147. To Asterius // Ibid. P. 508. See: letter 83, to Alypius, to whom Euthymius recommends his relative (p. 471), and letter 103, to Palladius, about the same thing (p. 489); letter 15, to Lollian, to whom he recommends his nephews Hellas and Eulalia (p. 428) (St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. Vol. 2). See: letter 106, to Olympius, regarding his relative Eustratius (p. 419); letter 159, to Theodore, bishop. Tiansky, about his relative the maiden Amazonia (p. 513); letter 198, to Nemesius, about his relative Valentinian (p. 535) (St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. Vol. 2). See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letters 128, 104, 140, 105, 143, 162, 189, 192, 165, 166, 183, 160, 161, 115, 185, 151, 184, 181, 134, 137, 150, 129, 32, 33, 31, 197, 200, 199, 204, 206, 208, 207, 238, 169, 170, 209, 168, 219, 220, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 221, 99, 211, 56, 222, 223 // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 497, 489, 503, 490, 505, 514, 529, 531, 516, 517, 525, 514, 493, 527, 510, 526, 524, 500, 501, 509, 498, 437, 439, 437, 534, 536, 535, 539, 540, 542, 541, 556, 518, 542, 518, 547, 548, 544, 545, 546, 548, 478, 543, 453, 549. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 104. To Olympius // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 489. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 162. To Theodore, Bishop of Tyana // Ibid. P. 514. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 165. To Timothy // Ibid. P. 516. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 56. To Thekla // Ibid. P. 453. See: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 205. To him [To Adelphius] // Ibid. P. 540; Letter 221. To Omophronius // Ibid. P. 548. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 231. To Eusebius, a friend // Ibid. pp. 553–554. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 193. To Procopius // Ibid. P. 532. Letters 194 (p. 535) and 232 (p. 554) have the same content. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 114. To Eleusius // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. pp. 492–493. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 107. To Kledonius // Ibid. P. 490. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 119. To Palladius // Ibid. P. 494. St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 45 // Ibid. T. 1. P. 559. From this Word it is clear that St. Gregory retired to silence in Lamis during his leadership of the Nazianzi church. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 238. To the Sannavadain Brotherhood // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 557. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 203. To Valentinian // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. pp. 538–539. According to the general custom of the then Christian East, women's monasteries were located next to the men's, at a short distance. Governing independently in their inner life, they used from the men's monasteries only the guidance of elders experienced in spiritual life, who were usually appointed to this work by the abbots of the men's monasteries at the request of the abbess of the women's monasteries (see: St. Basil the Great. Rules, expounded at length, 33 // St. Basil the Great. Creations. Vol. 2. P. 197–198; The same rules, briefly stated, 108–111 // Ibid. P. 256). Pious persons of both sexes often lived near these monasteries, sometimes with entire families. They usually did not belong to any monastery, but lived their own independent lives, devoting themselves to prayer, abstinence and chastity. They were also placed near the monasteries in order to benefit from the lessons of the spiritual experience of the ascetics. Among such persons was the hermit Thekla, who lived here with her children, as can be seen from letters to her by St. Gregory. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 56. To Thekla // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 453. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 222. To her // Ibid. P. 549. This was the last letter from St. Gregory, at least from those whose writing time can be determined with approximate accuracy (see: St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 223. To Thecla // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. pp. 549–551). The pious hermit prevented the death of St. with her death. Gregory, if in the following words he speaks about her: “... the irreproachable bishop Amphilochius, the thunderous messenger of truth, my adornment, whom, together with the immaculate Thekla, I conveyed to God” (St. Gregory the Theologian. Advice to the Olympiad // Ibid. P. 354). St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 178. To Eudoxius // Ibid. P. 523. St. Gregory the Theologian. Letter 99. To Omophronius // Ibid. P. 478. See also: Same. Letter 34. To him [To Philagry] // Ibid. pp. 439–440; Letter 204. To Adelphius // Ibid. pp. 539–540; Letter 228. To Pansophius // Ibid. P. 552; Letter 180. To him [To Eudoxius the rhetorician] // Ibid. P. 524. St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 36 // Ibid. T. 1. P. 428. St. Gregory the Theologian. Cry. About the suffering of his soul // Ibid. T. 2. St. Gregory the Theologian. A poem in which St. Gregory retells his life // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 196. Wed: St. Gregory the Theologian. About his poems // Ibid. P. 290. St. Gregory the Theologian. Poems about myself // Ibid. P. 185. St. Gregory the Theologian. Cry. About one’s own misfortunes and a prayer to Christ for the end of life // Ibid. P. 293. St. Gregory the Theologian. To Christ // Ibid. P. 282. St. Gregory the Theologian. About the vanity and unfaithfulness of life and about the common end of everything // Ibid. P. 281. St. Gregory the Theologian. Poems about yourself // St. Gregory the Theologian. Creations. T. 2. P. 184. St. Gregory the Theologian. Song of propitiation // Ibid. P. 315. St. Gregory the Theologian. On the outcome // Ibid. P. 314. St. Gregory the Theologian. Against the devil during illness // Ibid. P. 306.