Gregory Thaumaturgus

Footnotes

Introductory Note to Gregory Thaumaturgus.

^[244] λόγος.

^[245] The text is, εἴ τις εἴη κατ᾽ αὐτῶν τῶνδέ τινων φιλοσόφων. Bengel suggests καταντῶν.

^[246] [Beautiful testimony to the worth and character of Origen! After St. Bernard, who thought he was scriptural, but was blinded by the Decretals (no fault in him), Scripture and testimony (as defined to be the rule of faith by Tertullian and Vincent) ceased to govern in the West; and by syllogisms (see vol. v. p. 100) the Scholastic system was built up. This became the creed of a new church organization created at Trent, all the definitions of which are part of said creed. Thus the “Roman-Catholic Church” (so called when created) is a new creation (of a.d. 1564), in doctrine ever innovating, which has the least claim to antiquity of any Church pretending to Apostolic origin.]

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 Afflatus. Origen’s Excellence in the Interpretation of Scripture.

^[247] ὑποφητεύων.

^[248] ὑπηχῶν.

^[249] Isa. xxii. 22; Rev. iii. 7. [All these citations of the Scriptures should be noted, but specially those which prove the general reception of the Apocalypse in the East.]

^[250] [A noble sentence. Eph iii. 8, 9.]

^[251] The text gives ὡς ἀκούσωσιν with Voss. and Bengel. The Paris editor gives ἀκούουσιν.

^[252] ἄῤῥητον.

^[253] Barbarian.

^[254] σωματοτροφεῖν παχυνομένους.

Argument XVI.—Gregory Laments His Departure Under a Threefold Comparison; Likening It to Adam’s Departure Out of Paradise. To the Prodigal Son’s Abandonment of His Father’s House, and to the Deportation of the Jews into Babylon.

^[255] ἀπειθεῖν. Bengel and Hœschelius read ἀπελθεῖν, withdraw.

^[256] ἁπλοῦς ἀρά τις εἶναι νενόμισται ἀνδρὶ προφήτῃ. Migne refers us to Ps. xvii.

^[257] Ps. cxxxvii.

^[258] 2 Kings xxiv.; xxv.

^[259] θεολόγους, used probably of the prophets here—namely of Ezekiel, Daniel, and others carried into exile with the people. On this usage, see Suicer’s Thesaurus, under the word θεολόγος, where from the pseudo-Areopagite Dionysius he cites the sentence, τῶν θεολόγων εἷς, ὁ Ζαχαρίας, and again, ἕτέρος τῶν θεολόγων ᾽Ιεζεκιήλ.

^[260] The text is, καὶ φῶς τὸ ἡλιακὸν καὶ τὸ διηνεκὲς, ἡμέρας ὕπερ ἡμῶν προσομιλούντων τοῖς θείος μυστηρίοις καὶ νυκτὸς ὧν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ εἶδέ τε καὶ ἔπραξεν ἡ ψυχὴ ταῖς φαντασίαις κατεχομένων. Bengel proposes ὕπαρ for ὕπερ, so as to keep the antithesis between ἡμέρας ὕπαρ and νυκτὸς φαντασίαις; and taking ἡμέρας and νυκτός as temporal genitives, he renders the whole thus: cum interdiu, per visa, divinis aderamus sacramentis: et noctu earum rerum, quas viderat de die atque egerat anima, imaginibus detinebamur.

^[261] [“In dreams I still renew the rites,” etc.—William Croswell.]

^[262] αὐλεῖν. The Jews had the harp, and so the word ψάλλειν is used of them in the preceding. But here, in speaking of himself, Gregory adopts the term οὔτε αὐλεῖν, ne tibia quidem canere. Bengel supposes that the verb is changed in order to convey the idea, that while the Jews only had to give up the use of instruments expressive of joyful feeling, Gregory feared he would himself be unable to play even on those of a mournful tone,—for in ancient times the pipe or flute was chiefly appropriated to strains of grief and sadness.

Argument XVII.—Gregory Consoles Himself.

^[263] [He was still proposing for himself a life of worldly occupation. Here turn to Origen’s counsel,—a sort of reply to this Oration,—vol. iv. p. 393, and Cave’s Lives, etc., vol. i. p. 400.]

^[264] The text is, διεφθαρμένας μὲν τῇ δυνάμει, ἢ ἀκάρπῳ ἢ κακοκάρπῳ τινὶ, μὴ καὶ προσδιαφθαρησομένῃ δὲ παρ᾽ ἡμῶν, etc. Bengel reads μέν τοι for μὲν τῇ, and takes μὴ καί as = utinam ne.

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

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