Gregory Nazianzen the Theologian On the Holy Lights (Oration XXXIX), Complete

Translated by Ch. Browne and J. Swallow.

Gregory Theologian Bilingual Anthology, Resources Online and in Print

15 Pages

Page 12

XVI. But further—Jesus goeth up out of the water...for with Himself He carries up the world...and sees the heaven opened which Adam had shut against himself and all his posterity, [3980] as the gates of Paradise by the flaming sword. And the Spirit bears witness to His Godhead, for he descends upon One that is like Him, as does the Voice from Heaven (for He to Whom the witness is borne came from thence), and like a Dove, for He honours the Body (for this also was God, through its union with God) by being seen in a bodily form; and moreover, the Dove has from distant ages been wont to proclaim the end of the Deluge. [3981] But if you are to judge of Godhead by bulk and weight, and the Spirit seems to you a small thing because He came in the form of a Dove, O man of contemptible littleness of thought concerning the greatest of things, you must also to be consistent despise the Kingdom of Heaven, because it is compared to a grain of mustard seed; [3982] and you must exalt the adversary above the Majesty of Jesus, because he is called a great Mountain, [3983] and Leviathan [3984] and King of that which lives in the water, whereas Christ is called the Lamb, [3985] and the Pearl, [3986] and the Drop [3987] and similar names.

[3980] Gen. iii. 24.

[3981] Ib. viii. 11.

[3982] Matt. xiii. 31.

[3983] Zech. iv. 7.

[3984] The word Leviathan does not occur in the LXX., though it is found twice in other Greek Versions of the Book of Job, viz.:—iii. 8 and xl. 20.

[3985] Isa. liii. 7.

[3986] Matt. xiii. 46.

[3987] Ps. lxxii. 6.

Previous Page / First / Next Page of Gregory Theologian - On the Holy Lights (Oration XXXIX)

St Gregory Theologian Home Page ||| More Church Fathers

Elpenor's Free Greek Lessons

Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/gregory-nazianzen/holy-lights.asp?pg=12