THE TYNDALE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE LECTURE, 1987 GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S USE OF SCRIPTURE IN DEFENCE OF THE DEITY OF THE SPIRIT T. A. Noble Gregory Nazianzen's defence of the deity of the Spirit was most fully expressed in two orations which he gave in Constantinople during his brief sojourn there from AD 379 to AD Moreover, in no other way was it possible for the Love of God toward us to be manifested than by making mention of our flesh, and that for our sake He descended even to our lower part. To Nectarius, Bishop of Constantinople. By A ndrew H ofer. So Moses was a God to Pharaoh, but a servant of God, as it is written; and the stars which illumine the night are hidden by the Sun, so much that you could not even know of their existence by daylight; and a little torch brought near a great blaze is neither destroyed, nor seen, nor extinguished; but is all one blaze, the bigger one prevailing over the other. Home / Gregory Nazianzen – Epistle 102. For gentleness does not put bad men out of countenance. To our most reverend and God-beloved brother and fellow priest Cledonius, Gregory, greeting in the Lord. Technically the See was vacant, but the administration had been committed to Gregory by the Bishops of the Province, and though he, foreseeing some such attempt on the part of the heretics, had been very earnest in pressing upon the Metropolitan and his Comprovincials the necessity of filling this throne by a canonical election, yet he was by no means prepared to hand over the authority, with which he had been invested, to an irregularly elected and uncanonically consecrated heretic. But if anyone who thinks we have spoken rightly on this subject reproaches us with holding communion with heretics, let him prove that we are open to this charge, and we will either convince him or retire. Gregory selected some of his previously written epistles and arranged and published them in a collection to proclaim a certain image of himself. XLVI., S. Gregory gives extracts from a work of Apollinarius himself, but without mentioning the title of the book. For it's not likely that, like some painter, He conjured up an image from a similar image, having seen beforehand things which His own one mind did not write.”-- Gregory of Nazianzus Gregory (c.329-379, Feast Days Jan 2 & 25, depicted in Byzantine art with balding head and squarish beard) was born to Nonna, a devout Christian (Epigram 25 refers enigmatically to her "secret troubles"), and to Gregory, Bishop of Nazianzus, an ardent Trinitarian. Download books for free. I would they were even cut off that trouble you, Galatians 5:12 and would reintroduce a second Judaism, and a second circumcision, and a second system of sacrifices. After his baptism at age 30, Gregory joined his friend Basil in a newly founded monastery. Gregory of Nazianzus, Saint. For it is evident that they can only have been so received as assenting to the Orthodox Faith, for this were an impossibility on any other terms. For that which received the command was that which failed to keep the command, and that which failed to keep it was that also which dared to transgress; and that which transgressed was that which stood most in need of salvation; and that which needed salvation was that which also He took upon Him. GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS’S RECEPTION OF ORIGEN: THE HISTORY, STRUCTURE, AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PHILOCALIA OF ORIGEN by Joey Cochran Th.M. The Care of God, which throughout the time before us guarded the Churches, seems to have utterly forsaken this present life. My summation of Gregory of Nazianzus’ attack on Apollinarianism: “[W]e do not sever the man from the Godhead, but we lay down as a dogma the unity and identity [of person]…,” the eternal God assuming manhood for our salvation. Dallas Theological Seminary B.BA. If it was in order that God, otherwise incomprehensible, might be comprehended, and might converse with men through His Flesh as through a veil, their mask and the drama which they represent is a pretty one, not to say that it was open to Him to converse with us in other ways, as of old, in the burning bush Exodus 3:2 and in the appearance of a man. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. If only half Adam fell, then that which Christ assumes and saves may be half also; but if the whole of his nature fell, it must be united to the whole nature of Him that was begotten, and so be saved as a whole. At 41, Gregory was chosen suffragan bishop of … What could be more unreasonable than this, though these new heralds of truth think a great deal of the title? Andrew Hofer examines the breadth of Gregory's corpus—orations, letters, and poems (often neglected in doctrinal studies)—to argue that Gregory's writing on Christ can be best understood in tandem with his autobiography. But if His Manhood is intellectual and nor without mind, let them cease to be thus really mindless. CXL. If any worship not the Crucified, let him be Anathema and be numbered among the Deicides. Letters on the Apollinarian Controversy. That we must worship, not a God-bearing Flesh, but a Man-bearing God. Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Edward R. Hardy; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1954) 218. Gregory of Nazianzus. For he alleges another saying of an Apostle, which he cuts off from the whole body of its context, that The Second Man is the Lord from Heaven. CXXXI. St. Gregory of Nyssa 295 § 70. Against Christopher Beeley ( Gregory of Nazianzus on the Trinity and the Knowledge of God [New York: Oxford University Press, 2008], pp. Gregory of Nazianzus (330 – January 25, 389 or 390) (also known as Gregory the Theologian or Gregory Nazianzen) was a 4th-century Archbishop of Constantinople.He is widely considered the most accomplished rhetorical stylist of the patristic age. Epistle 101 (part of). If any assert that He was made perfect by works, or that after His Baptism, or after His Resurrection from the dead, He was counted worthy of an adoptive Sonship, like those whom the Greeks interpolate as added to the ranks of the gods, let him be anathema. Preview. But if it is mere words, and an invention of their own, devised for the sake of appearances and to give them weight with the multitude through the credit of the persons, teach them to hold their tongues, and confute them; for we believe that such a task is well suited to your manner of life and orthodoxy. Since, then, they have been openly convicted of this, let them not be angry, but let them be ashamed of themselves; and let them not slander us, but abase themselves and wipe off from their portals that great and marvellous proclamation and boast of their orthodoxy, meeting all who go in at once with the question and distinction that we must worship, not a God-bearing Man, but a flesh-bearing God. of Constan- tinople, then of Nazianzus f Wrote Theological Orations, letters and poems f “The Theologian,” teacher for Jerome Gregory of Nazianzus (329–390 AD) is one of three people to receive the epitaph “Theologian.” The others are John the Apostle and Symeon (949–1022 AD). Epistle 101 (part of). 7. But because by taking them upon Him He took away our sins and bore our iniquities. And they can surely prove it, either by the minutes of the Synod, or by Letters of Communion, for this is the regular custom of Synods. ... is carried through in Hofer’s analysis of Epistle 101 in chapter 6. The body, the spirit, and the mind (he would call this last component a rational soul). This is not yet the most serious part of it; that which is most terrible of all is that he declares that the Only-begotten God, the Judge of all, the Prince of Life, the Destroyer of Death, is mortal, and underwent the Passion in His proper Godhead; and that in the three days' death of His body, His Godhead also was put to death with His body, and thus was raised again from the dead by the Father. Keep then the whole man, and mingle Godhead therewith, that you may benefit me in my completeness. For what need is there even to mention to those who know it, the fact that everywhere in Scripture he is called Man, and the Son of Man? For it is evident that they can only have been so received as assenting to the Orthodox Faith, for this were an impossibility on any other terms. 7, (London: Christian Literature Co., 1984), p. 440, taken from Oakes, Infancy, p. 137 Genesis 18:5 But if it was that He might destroy the condemnation by sanctifying like by like, then as He needed flesh for the sake of the flesh which had incurred condemnation, and soul for the sake of our soul, so, too, He needed mind for the sake of mind, which not only fell in Adam, but was the first to be affected, as the doctors say of illnesses. If anyone should assert that He passed through the Virgin as through a channel, and was not at once divinely and humanly formed in her (divinely, because without the intervention of a man; humanly, because in accordance with the laws of gestation), he is in like manner godless. You, my good sir, dishonour my mind (you a Sarcolater, if I am an Anthropolater 4704 4704 The Apollinarians seem to have charged the Orthodox with being Anthropolaters, or worshippers of a mere Man. Basil, Letter 263.4. For if His Manhood is without soul, even the Arians admit this, that they may attribute His Passion to the Godhead, as that which gives motion to the body is also that which suffers. Gregory of Nazianzus (Greek: Γρηγόριος ὁ Ναζιανζηνός Grēgorios ho Nazianzēnos; c. 329 [1] – 25 January 389 or 390 [1]), also known as Gregory the Theologian or Gregory Nazianzen, was a 4th-century Archbishop of Constantinople.He is widely considered the most accomplished rhetorical stylist of the patristic age. S. Gregory retorts upon them that if so, they are worse themselves, being actually Sarcolaters, or worshippers of mere flesh, denying Mind to Him whom they adore as Lord and Saviour. 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