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ORATION 32

ORATION 32 On discipline in theological discourse and that discoursing about God is not for everyone or for every occasion.1 ur festival is well attended and you have gathered here in eager anticipation. And so a splendid opportunity presents itself for me to ply my trade. Allow me then without any further ado to offer you a sampling of my wares. It is a moderate one and cannot meet the anticipation you all have, which expects more, yet it is in keeping with my ability; one does better to contribute what one can than not to make the effort at all. A person should certainly not be held responsible if he lacks an aptitude for such things; culpable, however , he is if he refuses to involve himself be it in matters divine or human. I am a poor and insignificant shepherd who have yet to win acceptance from my fellow pastors.2 To speak with reticence , whether their behavior is attributable to good will and sound doctrine or whether it is a product of petty strife,3 I do not know. God knows, says the divine Apostle,4 and the day of revelation will disclose it clearly, and the last fire in which all our affairs are judged or purged.5 Nevertheless, I shall try my best not to hide my gift, or to put my lamp under a bushel,6 or bury my talent ,7 the criticisms I have often heard you make when you accused me of being lazy because you were unhappy about my silence , but to instruct you with words of truth and to make you one in Spirit. 2. Now then, my brothers, how should I set about improving8 1. PG 36.173–212D. Delivered 379 in Constantinople. 2. Gregory faced opposition not only from Arians but also from orthodox clergy who questioned the legality of his appointment. 3. Phil 1.15. 4. 2 Cor 12.2. 5. 1 Cor 3.13–15. 6. Mt 5.15. 7. Mt 25.18. 8. Cf. 2 Cor 13.9. 191 you? What words should I use to honor the martyrs whose festival we are celebrating today?9 What is the first thing I should say, or the most important? What would be most profitable to you spiritually? Or most useful on the present occasion? We may make the determination in the following way. What is the most beautiful feature of our religion? Peace; and, I may add, also the most beneficial. Again, what is the most pernicious and brings it most shame? Discord. Now that I have asked and answered this question, I shall pose a second one, too. What is it that has especially destroyed peace, and what has been most conducive to its opposite? Our aim is to isolate the causative agents as we do for physical illnesses, and seal off the sources of contamination, or dry them up. Then we shall be able to put an end to the discharges that they exude as well as their effects. One cannot, after all, reach any fit understanding about the end result if he has not given proper attention to its origin. So then, do you wish to state the cause yourselves and tell about it? Or do you authorize me as your physician to diagnose and to correct it? I am of course both ready to speak if such is your pleasure, and more ready to listen to what you have to say. You are deferring to me, I can see. Perhaps you suspect, rightly or wrongly, that we are not an incompetent physician when it comes to handling such cases or unaware of how to treat souls. Do not be surprised, then, if what I am going to say seems strange. Strange it is, yet true, I assure you, and you will agree with me if you will stay to the end and listen and resist the impetuous impulse to get up and leave before the end of the sermon , a habit of which I disapprove. 3. Passionate and strong-willed natures are the cause of this uproar; I do not at all mean those who are zealous and strongwilled in any strict sense—we certainly do not condemn impassioned feeling, without which no great accomplishment in piety or any other virtue is possible—but rather those whose intensity of feeling is accompanied by folly and ignorance and its vile offshoot, rashness, for rashness is the child of ignorance. Weak...