E01103: Basil of Caesarea, in his treatise On the Holy Spirit, refers to the life and miracles of *Gregory the Miracle-Worker (bishop of Neocaesarea, S00687) and to a hymn associated with *Athenogenes (martyr and bishop of Pedachthoe, S00065). Written in Greek at Kaisareia/Caesarea of Cappadocia (central Asia Minor) in c. 375.
Creators: name: Erizos
Publisher: name: University of Oxford
Year: 2016
Subjects: History

description: Basil of Caesarea, On the Holy Spirit (CPG 2839), 29. 73.44 - 74.38<br><br>73 (......) Εἰ δέ τις καὶ τὸν ὕμνον Ἀθηνογένους ἔγνω, ὃν ὥσπερ ἄλλο τι ἐξιτήριον τοῖς συνοῦσιν αὐτῷ καταλέλοιπεν, ὁρμῶν ἤδη πρὸς τὴν διὰ πυρὸς τελείωσιν, οἶδε καὶ τὴν τῶν μαρτύρων γνώμην ὅπως εἶχον περὶ τοῦ Πνεύματος. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν εἰς τοσοῦτον.<br><br>74. Γρηγόριον δὲ τὸν μέγαν καὶ τὰς ἐκείνου φωνὰς ποῦ θήσομεν; ἆρ’ οὐχὶ μετὰ τῶν ἀποστόλων καὶ προφητῶν; ἄνδρα τῷ αὐτῷ πνεύματι ἐκείνοις περιπατήσαντα, καὶ τοῖς τῶν ἁγίων ἴχνεσι διὰ παντὸς τοῦ βίου στοιχήσαντα, καὶ τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς πολιτείας τὸ ἀκριβὲς διὰ πάσης αὐτοῦ τῆς ζωῆς κατορθώσαντα. Ἐγὼ μὲν τοῦτό φημι, ἦ ἀδικήσομεν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, μὴ τοῖς ᾠκειωμένοις Θεῷ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐκείνην συναριθμοῦντες, οἷόν τινα λαμπτῆρα περιφανῆ μέγαν ἐν τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ διαλάμψαντα· ὃς φοβερὸν μὲν εἶχεν ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Πνεύματος συνεργίας κατὰ δαιμόνων τὸ κράτος· τοσαύτην δὲ ἔλαβε τοῦ λόγου τὴν χάριν εἰς ὑπακοὴν πίστεως ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, ὥστε ἑπτακαίδεκα μόνους Χριστιανοὺς παραλαβών, ὅλον τὸν λαὸν τόν τε ἀστικὸν καὶ τὸν χωριτικὸν διὰ τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως προσήγαγε τῷ Θεῷ. Ἐκεῖνος καὶ ποταμῶν ῥεῖθρα μετέστησεν, ἐπιτάξας αὐτοῖς ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τῷ μεγάλῳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ· καὶ λίμνην ἐξήρανεν ὑπόθεσιν πολέμου φέρουσαν ἀδελφοῖς πλεονέκταις. Αἱ δὲ τῶν μελλόντων προαγορεύσεις τοιαῦται, ὡς μηδὲν τῶν μεγάλων προφητῶν ἀποδεῖν. Καὶ ὅλως μακρὸν ἂν εἴη τοῦ ἀνδρὸς διηγεῖσθαι τὰ θαύματα, ὃς τῇ ὑπερβολῇ τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ χαρισμάτων, τῶν ἐνεργουμένων ὑπὸ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐν πάσῃ δυνάμει καὶ σημείοις καὶ τέρασι, δεύτερος Μωϋσῆς παρ’ αὐτῶν τῶν ἐχθρῶν τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἀνηγορεύετο. Οὕτως αὐτῷ ἐν παντὶ λόγῳ καὶ ἔργῳ τῶν ἐπιτελουμένων διὰ τῆς χάριτος οἷόν τι φῶς ἐπέλαμπε, μήνυμα τῆς οὐρανίου δυνάμεως, τῆς ἐκ τοῦ ἀφανοῦς παρεπομένης αὐτῷ. Τούτου μέγα ἔτι καὶ νῦν τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις τὸ θαῦμα, καὶ νεαρὰ καὶ ἀεὶ πρόσφατος ἡ μνήμη ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις ἐνίδρυται, οὐδενὶ χρόνῳ ἀμαυρουμένη. Οὐκοῦν οὐ πρᾶξίν τινα, οὐ λόγον, οὐ τύπον τινὰ μυστικόν, παρ’ ὃν ἐκεῖνος κατέλιπε τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, προσέθηκαν. Ταύτῃ τοι καὶ πολλὰ τῶν παρ’ αὐτοῖς τελουμένων ἐλλειπῶς ἔχειν δοκεῖ, διὰ τὸ τῆς καταστάσεως ἀρχαιότροπον. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἠνέσχοντο οἱ κατὰ διαδοχὴν τὰς ἐκκλησίας οἰκονομήσαντες τῶν μετ’ ἐκεῖνον ἐφευρεθέντων παραδέξασθαι εἰς προσθήκην. Ἓν τοίνυν τῶν Γρηγορίου καὶ ὁ νῦν ἀντιλεγόμενος τρόπος τῆς δοξολογίας ἐστίν, ἐκ τῆς ἐκείνου παραδόσεως τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ πεφυλαγμένος. Καὶ οὐ πολὺς ὁ πόνος μικρὸν κινηθέντι τὴν ἐπὶ τούτοις πληροφορίαν λαβεῖν.<br><br>‘And if anyone has come across the hymn of Athenogenes, which he left to his associates by way of a farewell writing, while already hastening towards his consummation by fire, this person also knows the view of the martyrs and how they thought with regard to the Spirit. So, with regard to this matter, these things suffice.<br><br>But where shall we rank the great Gregory, and the words uttered by him? Not among the Apostles and Prophets? He was a man who walked by the same Spirit as they [2 Corinthians 12:18], and who followed the footprints of the saints throughout his life and maintained, as long as he lived, the exact principles of living according to the Gospel. I do believe that we shall wrong the truth if we do not number that soul with the people of God, shining as it did like a beacon in the Church of God. By the fellow-working of the Spirit his power over demons was tremendous. So gifted was he with the grace of the word for obedience to the faith among the nations [Romans 1:5] that, although he found only seventeen Christians, he brought to God all the people in town and country alike by his teaching. By Christ's great name he even changed the course of rivers, and caused a lake, which afforded a ground of quarrel to some covetous brethren, to dry up. Moreover his predictions of things to come were such as by no means to fall short of those of the great prophets. To recount all his wonderful works in detail would be too long a task. For the superabundance of the gifts in him, performed by the Spirit in all power and in signs and in marvels, he was declared a second Moses even by the enemies of the Church themselves. Thus some short of light shone over every word and deed he performed by the grace, manifesting the heavenly power sent to him from the Unseen One. His admiration among the locals is great to this day, and his memory remains ever fresh and green in the churches, by no means faded by time. They thus have not added any practice or word or sacramental ritual beyond what he left to the Church. For this reason many of their ceremonies appear to be defective, on account of the antiquity of their institution. For his successors in the administration of the churches could not endure to accept addition of any of the practices established after him. Now one of the institutions of Gregory is the very form of the doxology to which objection is now made, preserved by the Church on the authority of his tradition. Anyone who takes the short journey there can find out about these things without great trouble.’<br><br>Text: Sieben 1993.<br>Translation: E. Rizos.