Ascetical Works (The Fathers of the Church, Volume 58)

Cover

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Frontmatter

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Contents

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pp. vii-

Introduction

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pp. ix-xix

OF THE THREE CAPPADOCIAN FATHERS of the Church, St. Basil, St. Gregory of N azianzus, and St. Gregory of Nyssa, the last is the least well-known and until recently the most neglected. His brother, St. Basil, called the Great, is famous as the founder of monasticism in the East and...

Preface

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pp. xx-xxiii

Until Jaeger's edition of the writings of St. Gregory of Nyssa, the only available edition, except for a number of separate treatises, was the antiquated edition of the Jesuit, Fronto du Due, ed. J. Gretsen (Paris 1638), reprinted in...

On Virginity

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pp. 1-75

THIS ENCOMIUM OF VIRGINITY, addressed to the monks living under St. Basil's Rules, is the earliest of the ascetical works of St. Gregory and is referred to by J. Danielou as 'the first in date as in importance.'¹ St. Gregory's...

On What It Means To Call Oneself A Christian

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pp. 77-89

WRITTEN MANY YEARS LATER than the treatise on virginity, this work, in the form of a letter, is addressed to a young admirer of St. Gregory named Harmonius. Its warm personal tone goes beyond the conventional epistolary style and, despite its length, the impression is given that...

On Perfection

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pp. 91-122

THIS TREATISE HAS AN alternate title: 'On What It is Necessary for a Christian to be,' and, in the margin of one of the manuscripts, it is described as 'a letter characterizing the true Christian.' It is clearly related in subject matter to the foregoing letter to Harmonius on what it...

On The Christion Mode of Life

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pp. 123-158

THE COMPLETE TEXT OF THIS TREATISE, On the Christian Mode of Life, was printed for the first time in 1952 in the Jaeger edition of the ascetical works. It was literally rediscovered by Jaeger who recognized it as the common source of two works included in...

The Life Of Saint Macrina

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pp. 159-191

THIS PERSONAL PORTRAIT of his sister as an impressive exponent of the ascetic ideal is an illuminating supplement to St. Gregory's more objective treatises on the ascetic life. Together with his Panegyric on St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, it provides an early example of Christian...

On The Soul And The Resurrection

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pp. 193-272

THIS DIALOGUE BETWEEN ST. GREGORY and his sister, St. Macrina, during her last hours is reminiscent of Plato's Phaedo in which Socrates and his friends spend the last day of his life discussing the pertinent subject of the possibility of the soul's immortality. The fact that the...

Indices

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pp. 273-288