[4157] Ib. li. 8.
[4158] Ib. lvii. 4; lii. 2.
[4159] Ib. x. 7.
[4160] 1 Cor. ii. 7.
[4161] Acts ii. 3.
[4162] Isa. iii. 34.
[4163] Cant. i. 3.
[4164] John xx. 28.
[4165] Quia gula est parens immunditiæ et luxuriæ.
[4166] Ps. xxxiv. 8.
[4167] Ps. cxix. 103.
[4168] Ephes. iv. 16.
[4169] 1 Tim. ii. 8.
[4170] Ps. ii. 12.
[4171] Hag. i. 1.
[4172] Mal. i. 1 sq.; Prov. i. 16.
[4173] Phil. iii. 14.
[4174] John vi. 27.
[4175] Jer. iv. 19.
[4176] Ps. li. 10.
[4177] Exod. xii. 11.
[4178] Ps. xxxviii. 9.
[4179] Job xvii. 16.
[4180] Dan. x. 11.
[4181] Job xxxix. 16.
[4182] 1 Cor. xii. 23.
[4183] Col. iii. 5.
[4184] Levit. iii. 4. The Mosaic Law ordered that the upper part of the liver and the kidneys, together with the fat, should in creation sacrifices be consecrated to God; signifying that anger (which was intimated by the liver, which produces bile), and lust (signified by the kidneys and the fat) should especially be sacrificed to God. Again Moses assigned the shoulder and the breast of some sacrifices to the Priests, hinting obscurely at this, that we ought to take care to offer our hearts to the Priests by confession (for the heart is signified by the breast which protects it) and also our actions, which are intended by the shoulder, that by the Priest they may be presented to God. But the Apostle bids us mortify all our members which are upon the earth, and offer ourselves entire as a sacrifice to God, destroying with the sword of the Word of God all our evil and corrupt affections.--Nicetas.
[4185] Rom. xii. 1.
[4186] Levit. vii. 34.
[4187] i.e. If I think of One Blessed Person, the other Two are not in my mind, and so the greater part of God escapes me.
[4188] S. Gregory Thaumaturgus.
[4189] Galat. i. 10.
[4190] Amos v. 26.
[4191] 1 Sam. xvii. 49.
[4192] 1 Kings xvii. 21.
[4193] Ib. xviii. 33.
[4194] 1 Tim. v. 21.
[4195] Supposing S. Gregory's birth to have been in 325, the earliest date which seems at all probable, he would be under 60 in 381, when this Oration was delivered; so that the expression on the text must be held to be a rhetorical exaggeration. Suidas, however, pushes back the date of his birth as far as 299 or 300; which does not fit in well with the chronology of his life, as given by himself.
[4196] John xix. 22.
[4197] Ps. xl. 9.
[4198] Exod. xxxviii. 28.
[4199] Ib. xix. 13.
[4200] Matt. xxviii. 19.
[4201] Rev. i. 7.
[4202] James ii. 17.
[4203] The word here used is Bema, which properly means a Platform. In an Oriental Church the East end of the building is raised by one or more steps above the choir. A little distance East of these steps is a great Screen called the Iconostasis, from the picture (Icons) with which it is covered. It has three doors, one in the centre, called the Royal Gates, leading to the Altar; one on the left hand, leading to the Prothesis, or Credence; and one on the right to the Sacristy. The whole raised portion is called the Bema, or sometimes the Altar, the Altar proper being known as the Throne.
[4204] Luke xiv. 16 &c.
Oration XLI.
On Pentecost.
It is uncertain to what year the following Oration belongs. It was, however, certainly delivered at Constantinople; the Benedictine Editors think in the year 381, in which case the day would be May 16. An indication tending to establish this date is found in c. 14, in the expression of apprehension of personal danger to himself for his boldness in setting forth the true faith. In fact, in the earlier part of this year, after the Emperor Theodosius had put him in possession of the Patriarchal Throne, vacant by the expulsion and deposition of the Arian Demophilus, he had narrowly escaped assassination at the hands of the Arians.
The Oration deals again with the subject of the Fifth Theological Oration, the question of the Deity of the Holy Ghost, but proceeds to establish the point by quite a different set of arguments from those adopted in the former discourse, none of whose points are here repeated.
The Preacher begins by commenting on the various ways in which Festivals are kept by Jews, by Heathen and by Christians. Then he remarked on the mystical significance of the number Seven, which he illustrates by several instances; and next proceeds with his principal Subject.
God the Holy Ghost, he says, completes the work of Christ. Those who regard Him as a Created Being, as did the followers of Macedonius, are thereby guilty of blasphemy and impiety. The true Faith recognizes Him as God; and this belief is necessary to salvation; yet some reserve must be employed in applying that Name to Him. We must indeed insist on the recognition of His possession of all the attributes of Godhead; and we must at any rate bear with those who, like the Orator himself, also give Him the Name of God, which he hopes all his hearers will receive from the Holy Ghost grace to do. Then he proceeds to shew from Holy Scripture that in fact all the Attributes of Deity do belong to the Holy Spirit; and that His distinctive Personal Mark is that He is neither Unbegotten like the Father, nor Begotten like the Son. He does not touch on the question of the double Procession.
It would seem from some expressions in c. 8 that this Discourse was not delivered to his usual audience, but to an Assembly of "Religious."
The Title of the Oration varies in different mss. Thus some have it "Of The Same On Pentecost," to which one adds "And On The Holy Spirit;" and another puts it "Of The Same, a Homily on Pentecost." The printed Editions before the Benedictine have "On The Holy Pentecost."
I. Let us reason a little about the Festival, that we may keep it spiritually. For different persons have different ways of keeping Festival; but to the worshipper of the Word a discourse seems best; and of discourses, that which is best adapted to the occasion. And of all beautiful things none gives so much joy to the lover of the beautiful, as that the lover of festivals should keep them spiritually. Let us look into the matter thus. The Jew keeps festival as well as we, but only in the letter. For while following after the bodily Law, he has not attained to the spiritual Law. The Greek too keeps festival, but only in the body, and in honour of his own gods and demons, some of whom are creators of passion by their own admission, and others were honoured out of passion. Therefore even their manner of keeping festival is passionate, as though their very sin were an honour to God, in Whom their passion takes refuge as a thing to be proud of. [4205] We too keep festival, but we keep it as is pleasing to the Spirit. And it is pleasing to Him that we should keep it by discharging some duty, either of action or speech. This then is our manner of keeping festival, to treasure up in our soul some of those things which are permanent and will cleave to it, not of those which will forsake us and be destroyed, and which only tickle our senses for a little while; whereas they are for the most part, in my judgment at least, harmful and ruinous. For sufficient unto the body is the evil thereof. What need has that fire of further fuel, or that beast of more plentiful food, to make it more uncontrollable, and too violent for reason?
II. Wherefore we must keep the feast spiritually. And this is the beginning of our discourse; for we must speak, even if our speech do seem a little too discursive; and we must be diligent for the sake of those who love learning, that we may as it were mix up some seasoning with our solemn festival. The children of the Hebrews do honour to the number Seven, according to the legislation of Moses (as did the Pythagoreans in later days to the number Four, by which indeed they were in the habit of swearing [4206] as the Simonians and Marcionites [4207] do by the number Eight and the number Thirty, inasmuch as they have given names to and reverence a system of Æons of these numbers); I cannot say by what rules of analogy, or in consequence of what power of this number; anyhow they do honour to it. One thing indeed is evident, that God, having in six days created matter, and given it form, and having arranged it in all kinds of shapes and mixtures, and having made this present visible world, on the seventh day rested from all His works, as is shewn by the very name of the Sabbath, which in Hebrew means Rest. If there be, however, any more lofty reason than this, let others discuss it. But this honour which they pay to it is not confined to days alone, but also extends to years. That belonging to days the Sabbath proves, because it is continually observed among them; and in accordance with this the removal of leaven is for that number of days. [4208] And that belonging to years is shewn by the seventh year, the year of Release; [4209] and it consists not only of Hebdomads, but of Hebdomads of Hebdomads, alike in days and years. The Hebdomads of days give birth to Pentecost, a day called holy among them; and those of years to what they call the Jubilee, which also has a release of land, and a manumission of slaves, and a release of possessions bought. For this nation consecrates to God, not only the firstfruits of offspring, or of firstborn, but also those of days and years. Thus the veneration paid to the number Seven gave rise also to the veneration of Pentecost. For seven being multiplied by seven generates fifty all but one day, which we borrow from the world to come, at once the Eighth and the first, or rather one and indestructible. For the present sabbatism of our souls can find its cessation there, that a portion may be given to seven and also to eight [4210] (so some of our predecessors have interpreted this passage of Solomon).
III. As to the honour paid to Seven there are many testimonies, but we will be content with a few out of the many. For instance, seven precious spirits are named; for I think Isaiah [4211] loves to call the activities of the Spirit spirits; and the Oracles of the Lord are purified seven times according to David, [4212] and the just is delivered from six troubles and in the seventh is not smitten. [4213] But the sinner is pardoned not seven times, but seventy times seven. [4214] And we may see it by the contrary also (for the punishment of wickedness is to be praised), Cain being avenged seven times, that is, punishment being exacted from him for his fratricide, and Lamech seventy times seven, [4215] because he was a murderer after the law and the condemnation. [4216] And wicked neighbours receive sevenfold into their bosom; [4217] and the House of Wisdom rests on seven pillars [4218] and the Stone of Zerubbabel is adorned with seven eyes; [4219] and God is praised seven times a day. [4220] And again the barren beareth seven, [4221] the perfect number, she who is contrasted with her who is imperfect in her children. [4222]
IV. And if we must also look at ancient history, I perceive that Enoch, [4223] the seventh among our ancestors, was honoured by translation. I perceive also that the twenty-first, Abraham, [4224] was given the glory of the Patriarchate, by the addition of a greater mystery. For the Hebdomad thrice repeated brings out this number. And one who is very bold might venture even to come to the New Adam, my God and Lord Jesus Christ, Who is counted the Seventy-seventh from the old Adam who fell under sin, in the backward genealogy according to Luke. [4225] And I think of the seven trumpets of Jesus, the son of Nave, and the same number of circuits and days and priests, by which the walls of Jericho were shaken down. [4226] And so too the seven compassings of the City; in the same way as there is a mystery in the threefold breathings of Elias, the Prophet, by which he breathed life into the son of the Sareptan widow, [4227] and the same number of his floodings of the wood, [4228] when he consumed the sacrifice with fire sent from God, and condemned the prophets of shame who could not do the like at his challenge. And the sevenfold looking for the cloud imposed upon the young servant; and Elissæus stretching himself that number of times upon the child of the Shunammite, by which stretching the breath of life was restored. [4229] To the same doctrine belongs, I think (if I may omit the seven-stemmed and seven-lamped candlestick of the Temple [4230] ) that the ceremony of the Priests' consecration lasted seven days; [4231] and seven that of the purifying of a leper, [4232] and that of the Dedication of the Temple [4233] the same number, and that in the seventieth year the people returned from the Captivity; [4234] that whatever is in Units may appear also in Decads, and the mystery of the Hebdomad be reverenced in a more perfect number. But why do I speak of the distant past? Jesus Himself who is pure perfection, could in the desert and with five loaves feed five thousand, and again with seven loaves four thousand. And the leavings after they were satisfied were in the first case twelve baskets full, and in the other seven baskets; [4235] neither, I imagine, without a reason or unworthy of the Spirit. And if you read for yourself you may take note of many numbers which contain a meaning deeper than appears on the surface. But to come to an instance which is most useful to us on the present occasion, not that for these reasons or others very similar or yet more divine, the Hebrews honour the Day of Pentecost, and we also honour it; just as there are other rites of the Hebrews which we observe...they were typically observed by them, and by us they are sacramentally reinstated. And now having said so much by way of preface about the Day, let us proceed to what we have to say further.