St. Gregory the Dialogist I, Pope of Rome, is an ecumenical father and teacher of the Church. Among his extensive theological heritage, the "Discourses on the Gospels" are of particular importance. The saint saw the main goal of his book as the moral perfection of the Christian, for which he exhorted the flock "to hasten as quickly as possible to the eternal joys of the heavenly fatherland."

History of Christianity, Apocrypha, Apologetics ru Tatyana Trushova If you found an error - write to e-mail saphyana@inbox.ru ExportToFB21 28.04.2011 OOoFBTools-2011-4-28-11-27-13-93 1.0 Discourses on the Gospels Metochion of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius 2009 ISBN: 978–5–7789–0236–0

Compositions

Forty Discourses on the Gospels

Preface

To Secundinus, Bishop of Tauromenite.

To the most venerable and holy brother, Bishop Secundinus, Gregory, servant of the servants of God.

Between the liturgical rites of the Liturgy, I explained forty readings from the Gospel, from among those which, according to custom, are read in our Church on certain days. The explanation of some of them was read to the people before the people by the scribe, and the explanation of others before the people I spoke myself; and in the latter case it is written as I said. But some of the brethren, burning with zeal for the sacred word, passed on to others what I had said, before I had time to carefully correct what I had said as I had intended. These brethren I would call in some respects like hungry people who impatiently want to eat food before it is fully cooked. And the Scripture: Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil (Matt. 4:1), although before I explained with some doubt, yet afterwards I corrected the doubt by an exact explanation. It was these same discourses that I took care to write in the order in which they were spoken, in two books, so that the first twenty, which were written from my own words, and the last, the same number that were told by myself, would be divided into separate books. As for the fact that some things were offered by me before, while in the Evangelist it was written after, and some things were offered after, while in the Evangelist it was written before, your brotherly love should not be disturbed at all, because the discourses, as I said at different times, were also copied into books in this order by those who wrote from my words. And so, if your brotherly love, which is always attentive to the sacred readings, should find the above-mentioned passage from the Gospel interpreted doubtfully, or these same discourses not arranged in the way I said above, then know that these are uncorrected discourses, and correct them according to those which I have taken care to convey to you through the present messenger, and in no way allow them to remain uncorrected. The original ones (my discourses) are kept in the book depository of our Holy Church, so that those who live far from your brotherly love may find them here and be convinced of the corrections I have made.

Discourse I, delivered to the people in the church of St. Up. Peter on the second Sunday after the Nativity of Christ. The reading of the Holy Scriptures. Gospels: Luke 21:25-32

At the time of it, Jesus said to his disciples, "There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars: and on the earth the tongue is stiff because of the noise of the sea, and the disturbance, and the dying man with fear and expectation of those who are coming into the world: for the powers of heaven shall be moved, and then shall they see the Son of man coming upon the clouds with power and much glory. And to those who are beginning these, lift yourselves up, and lift up your heads: for your deliverance draweth nigh. And he spake unto them a parable, See the fig tree and all the trees, when they are already broken, seeing for themselves that the harvest is near. In the same way, when you see this happening, know that the Kingdom of God is near. Amen I say unto you, For this generation shall not pass away, until all these shall be.

1. Our Lord and Redeemer, most beloved brethren, desiring to find us ready, foretells the calamities that must follow in the moribund world in order to turn us away from love for it. He makes it known beforehand what shocks must precede his approaching death, so that we, if we do not wish to fear God in tranquillity, at least fear His imminent judgment, struck by such upheavals. A little higher, ahead of the present reading of the Holy Scriptures. In the Gospel, which your brotherly love has only now heard, the Lord says: "Tongue shall arise against tongue, and kingdom upon kingdom." And the cowards are in their places, and smooth (Luke 21:10). And after a few intermediate thoughts, he added what you have just heard: there will be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars: and on the earth there will be a tight tongue, because of despair, the noise of the sea, and the disturbance.

Of all these events, we see some as having already taken place, and others we fear as having to take place soon. For we see the rising of tongue upon tongue and their tightness on earth in our times more than we read in books. That an earthquake destroys countless cities, you know how often we hear from other parts of the world. We endure plagues unceasingly. But the signs in the sun, moon, and stars are not yet clearly seen; and that they are not far off, we conclude from the very changes of the air. However, before Italy was given over to the pagan sword for desolation, we saw fiery points in the sky, resplendent with the very blood of the human race, which was afterwards shed. The noise of the sea and indignation is by no means new. But if many prophecies have already been fulfilled, then there is no doubt that those few that remain unfulfilled will also be fulfilled; for the certainty of subsequent events is vouched for the fulfillment of those that have passed.

2. This, most beloved brethren, we say in order to awaken your souls to increased caution, so that you do not give way to carelessness, so that you do not become slackened by ignorance, but that you may always be troubled by fear, and strengthened by concern for good, especially if you will think about what our Redeemer says: "A dying man with fear and expectation of those who come to the world: for the powers of heaven shall be moved. What does the Lord call the heavenly powers, if not the Angels, Archangels, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, and Powers, which at the time of the coming of the Righteous Judge will visibly appear to our eyes, in order to demand from us an accurate account of what the invisible Creator now graciously allows us to do? Immediately it is added: and then they will see the Son of man, coming to the clouds with power and much glory. It can be said more clearly thus: in power and glory they will see Him Whom they did not want to listen to in humiliation, so that they may then feel His power the more strongly, the more reluctantly they now incline the neck of their hearts to obedience to Him.