We, who with
unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his
likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the
Spirit. – 2 Corinthians 3:18
Then Moses said,
“Now show me your glory.” And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to
pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your
presence….But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and
live.” – Exodus 33:18-20
Gregory of Nyssa: Basic Facts
- Gregory of Nyssa
(c.335-395) was one of the three great “Cappadocian Fathers,” along with his
older brother, Basil, and their mutual friend, Gregory of Nazianzus. Though
overshadowed by the other two during his own lifetime, modern theologians now see
him as the most original theologian of the three. He was a defender of the
doctrine of the Trinity at a crucial period in church history.
- Gregory was not
active in church leadership until Basil thrust him forward to be bishop of the
small town of Nyssa, but he did not prove to be good at church administration.
His contribution to the Christian tradition comes by way of his theological
ideas and his writing. He framed the classical idea of the infinity of God and
laid the groundwork for every subsequent theology of the Christian life. His
most prominent work today is his allegorical study, The Life of Moses.
Theological Themes of Gregory of Nyssa:
- The Trinity: Gregory defended the orthodox view
of the Trinity as being one God in three persons. The three Persons of the
Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) are exactly identical in all respects
(power, infinitude, character, etc.) and can be distinguished only in their
relations with each other.
- God is Infinite: Gregory’s work was a landmark
moment when Christian philosophy started to come into its own vis-à-vis the
dominant Platonian philosophies of the classical world. While Gregory followed
Neoplatonic thought in some respects, he contradicted classical philosophy in
several important ways. Against the great Christian thinker Origen, he asserted
that God is infinite—not only in time and space, but in attributes of character
as well. Since God’s goodness is without measure, God himself must be without
measure. This implies that God can never be fully known, and that humanity’s
perfection is not in achieving a “stasis” of perfect knowledge of God (as in
other philosophical systems), but in the continual upward pursuit of God.
- Human Nature: Gregory used the biblical language
of humans as the Image of God. However, because of sin we have lost our
likeness to that Image. Gregory compares humans to mirrors—we were made to reflect God, but because
of our nature as “mirrors” we will reflect whatever we are looking at, good or
evil. Thus humans must use their free will to turn themselves away from evil
and toward good, so they can reflect the likeness of God again. This is a
continuous process.
- The Spiritual Life: Gregory was the
first to offer a systematic foundation for under-standing the spiritual journey
as a continual, upward adventure into the knowledge of God. However, for
Gregory, this is a journey “into darkness”—we must lay down the pride of our
intellect and seek God with the understanding that he is too great to be ever
fully known. There are three stages of this journey: a darkness of ignorance; a
spiritual illumination; and then another darkness—the experience of God as he
is: beyond every capacity of ours to understand.
Quotes:
“The one who is
going to associate intimately with God must go beyond all that is visible
and…believe that the Divine is there where
the understanding does not reach.”
“If, then, one
should withdraw from those who seduce him to evil and by the use of his reason
turn to the better, putting evil behind him, it is as if he places his own
soul, like a mirror, face-to-face with the hope of good things, with the result
that the images and impressions of virtue, as it is shown to him by God, are
imprinted on the purity of his soul.”
“The knowledge of
God is a mountain steep indeed and difficult to climb—the majority of people do
not progress beyond the base of the mountain.”
“The true sight of
God consists in this, that the one who looks up to God never ceases in that
desire.”
“God did not make
the heavens in His image, nor the moon, the sun, the beauty of the stars, nor
anything else which you can see in the created universe. You alone are made in
the likeness of that nature which surpasses all understanding; you alone are a
similitude of eternal beauty, a receptacle of happiness, an image of the true
Light; and if you look up to Him, you will become what He is, imitating Him who
shines within you, whose glory is reflected in your purity. Nothing in all
creation can equal your grandeur.”
“[The mind], by
the intelligence’s yearning for understanding, gains access to the invisible
and the incomprehensible, and there it sees God. This is the true knowledge of
what is sought; this is the seeing that consists in not seeing, because that
which is sought transcends all knowledge, being separated on all sides by
incomprehensibility as by a kind of darkness.”