Ad patrem

Oration 12. To His Father, When He Entrusted Him with the Care of the Church of Nazianzus. 1. I opened my mouth and drew in the Spirit, and I give all that is mine, and myself, to the Spirit—both action and speech, inaction and silence—only let it hold me, and lead me, and move both hand and mind and tongue to what is necessary and what it wills; and let it lead me away again from what is necessary to avoid and from what is better. I am a divine instrument, a rational instrument, an instrument tuned and struck by the good craftsman, the Spirit. Yesterday it worked silence; I philosophized about not speaking. Today it strikes the mind; I shall sound forth the word, and I shall philosophize about speaking. And I am neither so talkative as to desire to speak when silence is being worked, nor so silent and ignorant as to set a guard on my lips when it is time for speech; but I both close and open my door to Mind, and Word, and Spirit—to the one consubstantiality and divinity. 2. I shall speak, then, since I am commanded to do so; and I shall speak to both this good shepherd and to you, the sacred flock, concerning what seems to me better for me to say and for you to hear today. Why did you need a fellow shepherd? For the speech will begin from you, O dear and honored head, worthy of that Aaron, upon whose beard and garment that spiritual and priestly oil drips. Why, when you are still able to support and guide many, and indeed do guide them in the strength of the Spirit, do you place a staff and a support under your spiritual works?

Or is it that you know and have heard that even after that Aaron, the famous one, Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron, were anointed? For I will willingly pass over Nadab and Abiud, out of fear of blasphemy. And Moses, while still living, appoints Joshua in his own place as lawgiver and general for those hastening to the land of promise. And as for the case of Aaron and Hur supporting the hands of Moses on the mountain, so that Amalek might be defeated by the cross, which was being sketched and typified from afar, I think I will willingly pass over it, as not very fitting and relevant to us; for Moses did not choose these as co-lawgivers, but as helpers in prayer and supports for the labor of his hands. 3. But what is the matter with you? What ails you? The body? I am ready to support it; and I have supported it, and I have been supported, like that Jacob, by paternal blessings. But the spirit? Who is stronger and more fervent, and especially now, to the extent that the flesh recedes and gives way, like light to what obstructs and opposes it and hinders its radiance? For these things generally tend to war against each other and to be set in opposition: the body may be in good condition while the soul labors, and the soul may flourish and look upward while the pleasures decline and wither away together with the body. And I have also admired in you, in another way, the archaic and noble quality, how you did not fear even this, which is very much a concern of the present times—that your spirit might be considered a pretext, and that we might seem to the many to be taking these things in a fleshly way while pretending to be spiritual. For the matter is great and tyrannical, and has such a wonderful enjoyment that the many have made it their business to be so considered.

And if someone should preside over and guide a flock even more confined than this, and one that brings more hardship than pleasure, this indeed is due to your simplicity or your love for your children, by which you neither admit any evil yourself nor readily suspect it in others (for one slow to move toward evil is slow to suspect it). But for me, there is also a second reason to speak briefly to this people, whether yours or mine. 4. We have been tyrannized, O friends and brothers—for I will call upon you now, even if not then—we have been tyrannized by the old age of a father and friend, and, to speak moderately, by his goodness. And help me, whoever is able, and give a hand to one who is pressed and torn between longing and spirit. The one urges flight, and mountains, and deserts, and quiet of soul and body, and the mind withdrawing into itself, and being gathered from the senses, so as to converse with God unblemished, and to be purely illuminated by the rays of the Spirit, with nothing of the lower and turbid mingling, nor intruding upon the divine light, until we come to the source of these earthly radiances, and cease from longing and desire, when the mirrors are dissolved by truth. The other wishes to bring into the midst, and to bear fruit for the common good, and to be benefited by benefiting one another, and to make public the illumination, and to present to God a chosen people, a holy nation, a royal priesthood, a purified image in many.

For it is better and greater, just as a garden is than a single plant, and the whole heaven with its beauties than one star, and a body than a limb, so also is a whole Church perfected under God than one man who succeeds; and one ought to look not only to one's own interest but also to that of others. For Christ himself, though it was possible for him to remain in his own honor and divinity, not only emptied himself to the form of a servant, but also endured the cross, despising shame, in order to consume sin in his own sufferings and to kill death by death. Those are the fictions of desire, these the teachings of the Spirit. But being midway between longing and spirit, and not knowing to which I should grant the greater share, I think I have found what is best and safest, and I will share it with you, so that you may join me in approving and supporting my plan. 5. It has seemed to me best and most free from danger to take a middle path between longing and timidity, and to give something to desire and something to spirit; and this would come about if I neither altogether flee the ministry, so as to reject the grace—for that is perilous—nor take upon myself a burden greater than I can bear—for that is heavy; and the one is for another's head, the other for another's power; rather, both are for folly. But it belongs to piety and safety alike to measure the ministry by one's power; and just as with food, to accept that which is according to one's power and to reject that which is beyond it; for in this way health comes to the body, and safety to the soul, by moderation in both.

Therefore, for now I accept to share the care with my good father, like a fledgling not uselessly flying close beside a great and high-soaring eagle; but after this I will give my wing to the Spirit to bear wherever it wishes, and however it wishes; and no one will force me, nor will anyone lead me elsewhere, when I deliberate with it. For a father's labors inherited are sweet, and the flock that is more familiar than a strange and foreign one; I would add that it is also more honorable to God, unless affection deceives me and habit steals my perception; but it is not yet more useful than ruling willing subjects willingly, nor safer; since our law does not lead by force, nor by compulsion, but voluntarily. For this would not even establish another rule, since what is held by force loves to become free when it seizes an opportunity; but our rule is not a rule, but a guidance, and the voluntary element preserves it most of all. For the mystery of piety is for those who are willing, not for those who are coerced.

This is my word to you, O men, spoken simply and with all goodwill, and this is the mystery of my mind. May whatever is going to benefit both you and us be decided, with the Spirit guiding our affairs (for the argument returns again to the same point), to whom we have given ourselves, and the head anointed with the oil of perfection in the Father Almighty, and the only-begotten Word, and the Holy Spirit and God. For how long shall we cover the lamp with the bushel and begrudge others the perfect divinity, when it is necessary to place it on the lampstand and shine for all Churches and souls and for the whole fullness of the inhabited world, no longer being conjectured nor shadow-painted in the mind, but also spoken out openly? This is indeed the most perfect demonstration of theology for those who have been deemed worthy of this grace in Christ Jesus Himself our Lord, to whom are glory, honor, and power for the ages. Amen.