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Translated by Ch. Browne and J. Swallow.
Gregory Theologian Bilingual Anthology, Resources Online and in Print
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13 Pages
Page 4
IV. And if we must also look at ancient history, I perceive that Enoch, [4223] the seventh among our ancestors, was honoured by translation. I perceive also that the twenty-first, Abraham, [4224] was given the glory of the Patriarchate, by the addition of a greater mystery. For the Hebdomad thrice repeated brings out this number. And one who is very bold might venture even to come to the New Adam, my God and Lord Jesus Christ, Who is counted the Seventy-seventh from the old Adam who fell under sin, in the backward genealogy according to Luke. [4225] And I think of the seven trumpets of Jesus, the son of Nave, and the same number of circuits and days and priests, by which the walls of Jericho were shaken down. [4226] And so too the seven compassings of the City; in the same way as there is a mystery in the threefold breathings of Elias, the Prophet, by which he breathed life into the son of the Sareptan widow, [4227] and the same number of his floodings of the wood, [4228] when he consumed the sacrifice with fire sent from God, and condemned the prophets of shame who could not do the like at his challenge. And the sevenfold looking for the cloud imposed upon the young servant; and Elissaeus stretching himself that number of times upon the child of the Shunammite, by which stretching the breath of life was restored. [4229] To the same doctrine belongs, I think (if I may omit the seven-stemmed and seven-lamped candlestick of the Temple [4230] ) that the ceremony of the Priests' consecration lasted seven days; [4231] and seven that of the purifying of a leper, [4232] and that of the Dedication of the Temple [4233] the same number, and that in the seventieth year the people returned from the Captivity; [4234] that whatever is in Units may appear also in Decads, and the mystery of the Hebdomad be reverenced in a more perfect number. But why do I speak of the distant past? Jesus Himself who is pure perfection, could in the desert and with five loaves feed five thousand, and again with seven loaves four thousand. And the leavings after they were satisfied were in the first case twelve baskets full, and in the other seven baskets; [4235] neither, I imagine, without a reason or unworthy of the Spirit. And if you read for yourself you may take note of many numbers which contain a meaning deeper than appears on the surface. But to come to an instance which is most useful to us on the present occasion, not that for these reasons or others very similar or yet more divine, the Hebrews honour the Day of Pentecost, and we also honour it; just as there are other rites of the Hebrews which we observe...they were typically observed by them, and by us they are sacramentally reinstated. And now having said so much by way of preface about the Day, let us proceed to what we have to say further.
[4223] Jude 14.
[4224] Gen. v. 22.
[4225] Luke iii. 34.
[4226] Josh. vi. 4. &c.
[4227] 1 Kings xvii. 21.
[4228] Ib. xviii. 33.
[4229] 2 Kings iv. 25, where the LXX. has "he contracted himself upon the child until seven times, and the child opened his eyes;" saying nothing about the sneezing of the child, which the Hebrew and Vulgate mention, while they omit the number in the case of Elisha's similar action. S. Bernard has a curious explanation of the seven sneezes of the child (in Cant. xvi).
[4230] Ex. xxv. 32, 37.
[4231] Levit. viii. 33.
[4232] Ib. xiv. 8.
[4233] 1 Kings viii. 6.
[4234] 2 Chron. xxxvi. 32.
[4235] Different words are used here as in the New Testament for Baskets. The second implies a larger size; it is the word used for the "basket" in which St. Paul was let down from the wall of Damascus, Acts ix. 25.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/gregory-nazianzen/pentecost.asp?pg=4
