Gregory Thaumaturgus, Acknowledged Writings

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Gregory Thaumaturgus, Acknowledged Writings

Acknowledged Writings.

A Declaration of Faith.

Part I.—Acknowledged Writings.

A Metaphrase of the Book of Ecclesiastes.

These words speaketh Solomon, the son of David the king and prophet, to the whole Church of God, a prince most honoured, and a prophet most wise above

Canonical Epistle.

Moreover, it has been reported to us that a thing has happened in your country which is surely incredible, and which, if done at all, is altogether th

Now, as regards those who have been enrolled among the barbarians, and have accompanied them in their irruption in a state of captivity, and who, forg

Now those who have been so audacious as to invade the houses of others, if they have once been put on their trial and convicted, ought not to be deeme

Now, those who have found in the open field or in their own houses anything left behind them by the barbarians, if they have once been put on their tr

Weeping takes place without the gate of the oratory and the offender standing there ought to implore the faithful as they enter to offer up prayer on

The Oration and Panegyric Addressed to Origen.

Argument I.—For Eight Years Gregory Has Given Up the Practice of Oratory, Being Busied with the Study Chiefly of Roman Law and the Latin Language.

Argument II.—He Essays to Speak of the Well-Nigh Divine Endowments of Origen in His Presence, into Whose Hands He Avows Himself to Have Been Led in a

Argument III.—He is Stimulated to Speak of Him by the Longing of a Grateful Mind. To the Utmost of His Ability He Thinks He Ought to Thank Him. From G

Argument IV.—The Son Alone Knows How to Praise the Father Worthily. In Christ and by Christ Our Thanksgivings Ought to Be Rendered to the Father. Greg

Argument V.—Here Gregory Interweaves the Narrative of His Former Life. His Birth of Heathen Parents is Stated. In the Fourteenth Year of His Age He Lo

Argument VI.—The Arts by Which Origen Studies to Keep Gregory and His Brother Athenodorus with Him, Although It Was Almost Against Their Will And the

Argument VII.—The Wonderful Skill with Which Origen Prepares Gregory and Athenodorus for Philosophy. The Intellect of Each is Exercised First in Logic

Argument VIII.—Then in Due Succession He Instructs Them in Physics, Geometry, and Astronomy.

Argument IX.—But He Imbues Their Minds, Above All, with Ethical Science And He Does Not Confine Himself to Discoursing on the Virtues in Word, But He

Argument X.—Hence the Mere Word-Sages are Confuted, Who Say and Yet Act Not.

Argument XI.—Origen is the First and the Only One that Exhorts Gregory to Add to His Acquirements the Study of Philosophy, and Offers Him in a Certain

Argument XII.—Gregory Disallows Any Attainment of the Virtues on His Part. Piety is Both the Beginning and the End, and Thus It is the Parent of All t

Argument XIII.—The Method Which Origen Used in His Theological and Metaphysical Instructions. He Commends the Study of All Writers, the Atheistic Alon

Argument XIV.—Whence the Contentions of Philosophers Have Sprung. Against Those Who Catch at Everything that Meets Them, and Give It Credence, and Cli

Argument XV.—The Case of Divine Matters. Only God and His Prophets are to Be Heard in These. The Prophets and Their Auditors are Acted on by the Same

Argument XVI.—Gregory Laments His Departure Under a Threefold Comparison Likening It to Adam’s Departure Out of Paradise. To the Prodigal Son’s Aband

Argument XVII.—Gregory Consoles Himself.

Argument XVIII.— Peroration, and Apology for the Oration.

Argument XIX.—Apostrophe to Origen, and Therewith the Leave-Taking, and the Urgent Utterance of Prayer.

Elucidation.

The story of the “Revelation” is of little consequence, though, if this were Gregory’s genuine work, it would be easy to account for it as originating in a beautiful dream. But it is very doubtful whether it be a genuine work; and, to my mind, it is most fairly treated by Lardner, to whose elaborate chapter concerning Gregory every scholar must refer.20 Credibility, vol. ii. p. 635. Gallandi, Biblioth. Vet. Patr., iii. 387. Dr. Burton, in his edition of Bishop Bull’s works,21 Vol. v. p. 423. [The wise benevolence of our author is more apparent than his critical skill. No book more likely to puzzle a pagan inquirer than this: so the metaphrase gives it meaning and consistency; but, over and over again, not Solomon’s meaning, I am persuaded.] almost overrules that learned prelate’s inclination to think it genuine, in the following words: “Hanc formulam minime esse Gregorii authenticam…multis haud spernendis argumentis demonstrat Lardner.” Lardner thinks it a fabrication of the fourth century.

Cave’s learned judgment is more favourable; and he gives the text22 Cave, Lives of the Fathers, vol. i. p. 402, ed. Oxford, 1840. τὰ πνεύματα, for which some propose ῥεύματα, streams, as the ἄνεμοι are mentioned in their own place immediately. from Gregory of Nyssa, which he translates as follows: “There is one God, the Father of the living Word and of the subsisting Wisdom and Power, and of Him who is His Eternal Image, the perfect begetter of Him that is perfect, the Father of the only-begotten Son. There is one Lord, the only Son of the only Father, God of God, the character and image of the Godhead, the powerful Word, the comprehensive Wisdom, by which all things were made, and the Power that gave being to the whole creation, the true Son of the true Father, the Invisible of the Invisible, the Incorruptible of the Incorruptible, the Immortal of the Immortal, and the Eternal of Him that is Eternal. There is one Holy Ghost, having its subsistence of God, which appeared through the Son to mankind, the perfect Image of the perfect Son, the Life-giving Life, the holy Fountain, the Sanctity, and the Author of sanctification, by whom God the Father is made manifest, who is over all, and in all; and God the Son, who is through all. A perfect Trinity, which neither in glory, eternity, or dominion is divided, or departed from itself.”