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Translated by W. Moore and H. A. Wilson
St Gregory of Nyssa Resources Online and in Print
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8 Pages
Page 7
He has put away the coats of skin [2099] ; no need is there now for the dwellers in paradise of such garments as these; but he wears the raiment which the purity of his life has woven into a glorious dress. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death [2100] " of such a man, or rather it is not death, but the breaking of bonds, as it is said, "Thou hast broken my bonds asunder." Simeon has been let depart [2101] . He has been freed from the bondage of the body. The "snare is broken and the bird hath flown away [2102] ." He has left Egypt behind, this material life. He has crossed [2103] , not this Red Sea of ours, but the black gloomy sea of life. He has entered upon the land of promise, and holds high converse with God upon the mount. He has loosed the sandal of his soul, that with the pure step of thought he may set foot upon that holy land where there is the Vision of God. Having therefore, brethren, this consolation, do ye, who are conveying the bones of our Joseph to the place of blessing, listen to the exhortation of Paul: "Sorrow not as others who have no hope [2104] ." Speak to the people there; relate the glorious tale; speak of the incredible wonder, how the people in their myriads, so densely crowded together as to look like a sea of heads, became all one continuous body, and like some watery flood surged around the procession bearing his remains. Tell them how the fair [2105] David distributed himself, in divers ways and manners, among innumerable ranks of people, and danced before that ark [2106] in the midst of men of the same and of different language [2107] .
[2099] Gen. iii. 21.
[2100] Ps. cxvi. 15, 16.
[2101] Gen. xliii. 23; S. Luke ii. 30.
[2102] Ps. cxxiv. 7.
[2103] Morell reads here, "Moses has left," "Moses has crossed;" but Krabinger has no doubt that this word is due to a gloss upon the text. The Scholiast Nicetas (on Gregory Naz., Orat. 38) well explains this use of "Egypt": "Egypt is sometimes taken for this present world, sometimes for the flesh, sometimes for sin, sometimes for ignorance, sometimes for mischief."
[2104] 1 Thess. iv. 13.
[2105] kalos. "Atticae urbanitatis proprium," Krabinger. But David is described as "of a fair countenance."
[2106] 2 Sam. vi. 14. "That ark," very probably refers to the remains of Meletius, not to the coffin or bier. The human body is called by this very term (skenos, tabernacle), 2 Cor. v. 1 and 4, nor was the word in this sense unknown to Plato. The body of Meletius has been already called a kibotos.
[2107] heteroglossois: kai en cheilesin heterois is added (cf. 1 Cor. xiv. 21; Is. xxviii. 11), in the text of Morell, but none of Krabinger's mss. recognize these words.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/nyssa/meletius.asp?pg=7
