E01831: Gregory of Nyssa in his Second Encomium on *Stephen the First Martyr (S00030), written in 386, refers to the feasts of Stephen, and of the Apostles *Peter (S00036), *James (S00108), and *John (S00042), probably celebrated on 26 and 27 December. Composed in Greek in Cappadocia (central Asia Minor).
Creators: name: Erizos
Publisher: name: University of Oxford
Year: 2016
Subjects: History

description: Gregory of Nyssa, Encomium On Stephen II (CPG 3187, BHG 1655)<br><br>(pages after Lendle 1990)<br><br>(97) ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΝΥΣΣΗΣ ΕΤΕΡΟΝ ΕΓΚΩΜΙΟΝ ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΓΙΟΝ ΣΤΕΦΑΝΟΝ ΤΟΝ ΠΡΩΤΟΜΑΡΤΥΡΑ<br><br>Gregory, bishop of Nyssa, Second Encomium on the Holy Stephen, the Protomartyr<br><br>Ἐπεδήμησε Χριστὸς τῷ κόσμῳ εἰς σωτηρίαν καὶ μετ᾽ αὐτὸν ἐβλάστησαν οἱ καρποὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας. ἔλαμψεν ὁ μάρτυς τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ συνέλαμψαν οἱ μάρτυρες τῆς μεγάλης οἰκονομίας. ἠκολούθησαν οἱ μαθηταὶ τῷ διδασκάλῳ τοῖς κυριακοῖς ἴχνεσιν ὁδεύοντες· μετὰ Χριστὸν οἱ χριστοφόροι· μετὰ τὸν ἥλιον τῆς δικαιοσύνης οἱ φωστῆρες τῆς οἰκουμένης. καὶ πρῶτος μὲν ἡμῖν ὁ Στέφανος ἤνθησεν, οὐκ ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαϊκῶν ἀκανθῶν πλακείς, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς εὐθηνίας πρῶτος καρπὸς τῷ κυρίῳ προσενεχθείς. Ἰουδαῖοι μὲν γὰρ στέφανον ἐξ ἀκανθῶν πλέξαντες τῇ κεφαλῇ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἐπέθηκαν, ἀξίους τῆς κακῆς γεωργίας αὐτῶν τοὺς καρποὺς ἐπιδειξάμενοι τῷ δεσπότῃ τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος, ὡς διὰ τῆς προφητείας προανεφώνει λέγων· Ἀμπελὼν κυρίου Σαβαὼθ οἶκος τοῦ Ἰσραήλ ἐστι καὶ ὁ ἄνθρωπος Ἰούδα νεόφυτον ἠγαπημένον. ἔμεινα τοῦ ποιῆσαι σταφυλήν, ἐποίησε δὲ ἀκάνθας. οἱ δὲ τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς ἀληθείας ἐργάται πρῶτον προοίμιον εὐσεβείας καὶ πρώτην ἀπαρχὴν τῆς γεωργίας Στέφανον τὸν ἅγιον ἄνδρα προσφέρουσι τῷ δεσπότῃ, οἷα δή τινα στέφανον ἀληθῶς ἐκ πολλῶν καὶ διαφόρων ἀρετῶν συνηρμοσμένον. [….]<br><br>‘Christ sojourned in the world for salvation, and after Him sprouted the fruit of the Church: there shone the Witness of Truth, and with Him shone the witnesses of the great dispensation. The disciples followed the Master, abiding by the dominical footprints. After Christ, those bearing Christ; after the Sun of Righteousness, the luminaries of the world. And first bloomed for us Stephen, the ‘Crown’ [in Greek, the name Stephanos means ‘crown/wreath’], not plaited of Jewish thorns, but offered to the Lord as the first fruit of the harvest of the Church. Because the Jews plaited a crown of thorns and placed it onto the head of the Saviour, presenting a worthy fruit of their bad tillage to the Lord of the vineyard, as He reveals in the prophecy, saying: For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah his pleasant plant. I looked that it should bring forth grapes, but it brought forth thorns (Isaiah 5:4, 7 [Septuagint]). Yet the labourers of the truth of the gospel offer to the Lord, as the first prelude of their piety and first fruit of their tillage, Stephen the holy man, truly like a crown composed of many and various virtues […].’<br> <br>(97-98) The author refers to the work of Stephen in philanthropy and teaching. Before recounting his trial and martyrdom, he explains why he refers to Stephen on the feast of the apostles by the following words:<br><br>(98. 19-26)<br><br>δεῖ γὰρ ἡμᾶς οὕτω παραδραμόντας τῷ πρωτομάρτυρι τὴν ὀφειλομένην ἀποδοῦναι, ἣν χθὲς ἀποπληρῶσαι τὸ ἀσθενὲς τοῦ σώματος οὐκ ἐπέτρεψε, καὶ σήμερον τοῖς ἁγίοις ἀποστόλοις τὴν οἰκείαν μνήμην ἀποπληρῶσαι. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ οὐχ ἡμέραις οὐδὲ χρόνοις τὰ τῶν ἁγίων ἐγκώμια περιορίζεται· Εἰς μνημόσυνον γάρ, φησίν, αἰώνιον ἔσται δίκαιος· ἔπειτα δέ, οἷς οὐ διαιρεῖται τὰ τῆς γνώμης. οὔτε τοίνυν μάρτυρες ἄνευ ἀποστόλων οὔτε πάλιν ἀπόστολοι χωρὶς ἐκείνων. διδάσκαλοι μὲν γὰρ μαρτύρων ἀπόστολοι· εἰκόνες δὲ τῶν ἀποστόλων οἱ μάρτυρες.<br><br>Indeed, we have to go through this quickly, and pay the homage we owe to the Protomartyr, which the frailty of our body did not permit us to fulfil yesterday, and today we need to accomplish his commemoration alongside that of the Holy Apostles. Above all, however, praises for the saints cannot not be confined to days or times. For he says, the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance (Ps. 111 [112]. 6). Besides, there is no division in their disposition: there can be namely no martyrs without apostles nor apostles without them. For the apostles are tutors of the martyrs, and the martyrs images of the apostles. (…)<br><br>(99-100)There follows an account of the trial and martyrdom of Stephen as described in Acts. Then Gregory passes to the subject of the three apostles:<br><br>(100. 11 - 101. 8) <br><br>ἀλλ᾽ ὁ μὲν Στέφανος οὕτω τὸν καλὸν ἀγωνισάμενος ἀγῶνα τὸν ἐν οὐρανοῖς κλῆρον ἐδέξατο. τῷ Στεφάνῳ δὲ τούτῳ πάντες ἐξαίφνης οἱ τίμιοι λίθοι συνεπλάκησαν, οἱ θειότατοι τῶν εὐαγγελίων κήρυκες, μεθ᾽ οὓς οἱ μάρτυρες, καὶ μετ᾽ αὐτοὺς πάλιν οἱ σωτηρίῳ ἀρετῇ διαλάμψαντες· προηγουμένως δὲ οἱ ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος μνημονευόμενοι πολὺ καὶ λαμπρὸν ἀπαστράπτοντες τὸ κάλλος τῆς εὐσεβείας, λέγω δὴ Πέτρος καὶ Ἰάκωβος καὶ Ἰωάννης, οἱ καὶ τῆς ἀποστολικῆς ἁρμονίας ἔξαρχοι καὶ τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς εὐδοξίας στέφανοι. οὐκ ἀφίσταμαι γὰρ τῆς τοῦ Στεφάνου προσηγορίας· ἀλλὰ πολλάκις καὶ μυριάκις λέγων ἔτι διψῶν ἐπαναλαμβάνω. Στεφάνου γὰρ κόρος οὐκ ἔστι τοῖς τὸ μακάριον τέλος τῶν στεφάνων ἐκδεχομένοις. οὐκοῦν, εἰ δεῖ φιλαλήθως εἰπεῖν, ἀπὸ Στεφάνου πάλιν στεφάνοις εὐωχοῦμεν καὶ κοινωνοῦμεν αὐτῶν ταῖς μνήμαις, ἐπειδήπερ ἐλπίζομεν κοινωνεῖν καὶ μένειν, καὶ συνδοξάσομεν· βεβαιούσης γὰρ τῆς ἐπαγγελίας ἡ κοινωνία τῆς πίστεως πολυπλασιάζεται.<br><br>Πάλιν δὲ ἡμῖν, ἀδελφοί, τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἡ ἀπόλαυσις, τῷ τὴν κυριακὴν τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἡμέραν συλλάμψαι τῇ μνήμῃ τῶν μαρτύρων. ἐν ταύτῃ γὰρ προηγουμένως ἡμῶν τὰς διανοίας κατηύγασεν ὁ φωτισμὸς τῆς δόξης τοῦ εὐαγγελίου τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἐν ᾗ τὰς σωτηρίους ἀκτῖνας τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἀνθήσας τὸ μὲν σκότος τῆς ἀσεβείας ἠφάνισε, τὰς δὲ ψυχὰς τῇ ἐπιγνώσει τῆς ἀληθείας ἐλάμπρυνε.<br><br>'But Stephen (‘the Crown’) fought the good fight like that, and received his lot in heaven. And into this ‘Crown’ were swiftly entwined all the other precious stones: the most divine heralds of the gospels, and after them the martyrs, and, after them, those who shone by their saving virtue. Above all, the men presently commemorated and shining by the great and bright splendour of their piety: I mean Peter, James, and John, the chiefs of the apostolic company and name. I am not departing from the subject of Stephen, but keep saying it many and thousands of times, and yet still thirst for it and repeat: those who welcome the blessed end of the crowns can never have enough of Stephen, ‘the Crown’! Thus, to say the truth, after Stephen (‘the Crown’), again in crowns we rejoice and in their memory we join, precisely because it is in their company that we hope to be and remain, and will worship together! Because by the confirmation of the covenant is the fellowship of the faith multiplied.<br><br>Once again, brethren, we have the enjoyment of good things, as the memory of the martyrs shines together with the dominical day of Resurrection. For earlier this day, the light of the glory of Christ’s gospel illuminated our minds, as it radiated the saving rays of righteousness, eliminated the darkness of impiety, and brightened our souls by the knowledge of truth. (……)’<br><br>(101) Christ rose like a sun, but his light did not hide the other lights and stars of the saints, prophets, and apostles. (102) John the Baptist is allegorically described as a burning lamp in the Scriptures, while Christ’s apostles are luminaries illuminating the entire world. The chief among them were Peter, James, and John, whose martyrdoms are commemorated on this day. The author refers to the crucifixion of Peter and the decapitation of James. The part referring to John is corrupt, but it seems to just be arguing that he may be counted among the martyrs despite the fact that his death was not violent. (103) The author argues that Peter, James, and John were the most important disciples, because only they are allowed by Jesus to be present at his most important moments, namely the Transfiguration, the raising of the daughter of Jairus, and his last prayer at Gethsemane. Yet it is no man’s task to make distinctions among the saints. (104-105) Although focusing on Peter, James, and John, the feast is in fact dedicated to all the apostles. One truly honours their memory by imitating their ways.<br><br>Text: Lendle 1990<br>Translation and summary: E. Rizos