"The Complete Works of the Holy Fathers of the Church and Church Writers" opens with two volumes of the Works of St. Gregory the Theologian. The first volume includes the famous 45 Homilies of the saint, which created for him the unfading glory not only of a famous ascetic of the Orthodox Church, but also of a great theologian, a glorified church writer and a brilliant orator. These works represent the best that St. Gregory in the field of church theology. They reflected all the power of the saint's talent. Written on various occasions and in different periods of the life of St. They reveal to our spiritual gaze the sublime beauty of theological speculations, the talent of a polemicist and defender of church teaching against heretics, an observant chronicler of everyday life, giving important historical information about his era, events and persons of his time. In a special place stands the oratorical talent of St. Gregory, manifested in the Words. Soon after his holy repose, Saint Gregory was called the "Christian Demosthenes" in honour of the famous and unsurpassed orator of antiquity. Many of the 45 Homilies presented were pronounced by St. John. Gregory in the quality of church sermons and with their amazing power influenced the hearts and minds of listeners. An exceptional role was played by the famous 5 Homilies on Theology, which in many respects changed the fate of the confrontation between the Arians and the Orthodox in Constantinople in 380 and served as fertile ground for the convocation of the Second Ecumenical Council in 381. The appendix contains one of the best Russian studies of the life and teaching of St. Gregory — the book of the Holy Scriptures. N. Vinogradov "The Dogmatic Teaching of St. Gregory the Theologian", as well as an index of quotations from the Holy Scriptures. This publication will make an excellent beginning for the home collection and study of the best heritage from the treasury of the Holy Tradition of the Church.

early Christianity, apostolic fathers, apologetics ru Tatyana Trushova saphyana@inbox.ru ExportToFB21 04.03.2011 OOoFBTools-2011-3-4-13-48-29-361 1.0 St. Gregory the Theologian. Volume One. The Complete Works of the Holy Fathers of the Church in Russian Translation Sibirskaya Blagozvonnitsa 2010

Collected Works of St. Gregory the Theologian

Volume 1

Homily 1, on Easter and His Slowdown

This word was spoken on the following occasion. When St. Gregory was made a presbyter against his will, with the assignment of assistance, to the administration of the Nazianzus flock to the bishop, his aged father, then St. Gregory. Gregory, out of a sense of humility and because he saw in his new appointment an obstacle to his striving for a contemplative life, withdrew to Pontus, but a little later, on the very day of Pascha, he returned to Nazianzus and pronounced the present sermon.

The day of the Resurrection is an auspicious beginning. Let us be enlightened by triumph and embrace one another. "Brethren, and to them that hate us" (Isaiah 66:5), how much more to those who have done or suffered anything out of love. Let us yield everything to the Resurrection, let us forgive one another: both I (I will mention this now), who have been subjected to good compulsion, and you, who have used good coercion, although you somewhat complain about me for my delay. Perhaps it is better and more precious in the sight of God than the haste of others. It is also good to deviate somewhat from the calling of God, as Moses did in ancient times, and after Jeremiah; it is good to hasten with readiness to the voice of the Caller, as Aaron and Isaiah did, provided that both are out of godliness, the one because of one's own weakness, and the other because of the hope of the power of the Caller. On the day of the sacrament I was anointed; on the day of the sacrament he withdrew for a short time in order to test himself; on the day of the sacrament, and I return,[1] having chosen this day as a good guardian of my timidity and weakness, so that He who has now risen from the dead may renew me also by the Spirit, and, having clothed me with a new man, for a new creature, for those who are born according to God, He may make me a good educator and teacher, who with Christ both dies willingly and rises.

Yesterday the Lamb was slain, the doors were anointed, Egypt mourned for the firstborn; The destroyer has passed by us, the seal is terrible and honorable to him, and we are protected by precious blood. Now we have fled from Egypt purely, from the cruel ruler Pharaoh and the merciless stewards, we have been freed from fleeing and plinth-making, and no one will prevent us from celebrating the feast of the Exodus to the Lord our God, and to celebrate not in the leaven of wickedness and wickedness, but in the leaven of purity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:8), without bringing with us the Egyptian leaven of godlessness. Yesterday I was crucified with Christ, today I am glorified with Him; yesterday I died with Him, today I live; yesterday I was buried, now I am resurrected.

Let us bring gifts to Him who suffered for us and Who rose from the Dead. Perhaps you think that I am talking about gold, or silver, or fabrics, or transparent and precious stones. This is an earthly substance, transient and remaining on earth, which is always more possessed by the wicked – the slaves of the earthly, the slaves of the world-holder. No, let us offer ourselves, the most precious acquisition before God and most proper to Him, let us render to the Image what was created in the image, let us recognize our dignity, let us honor the Prototype, let us understand the power of the sacrament [2] and for whom Christ died. Let us be like Christ, for Christ also became like us; let us be made gods for His sake, for He also became man for us. He took the worst in order to give the best; He became poor, that we might be enriched by His poverty; He took the form of a slave, that we might be set free; He descended that we might be lifted up; He was tempted that we might overcome; He endured disgrace in order to glorify us; he died to save him; ascended in order to draw to Himself the lot of those who lie in sinful fall. Let anyone give everything, offer everything as a gift to Him Who gave Himself for us as a price of redemption, — he will bring nothing equal to if he presents himself to Him, understanding the power of the sacrament and having become all things for Christ, as He is for us.

This [3] good shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep, as you see, bears fruit to you, the Shepherd. For this he hopes, and desires, and asks of you, who are his flock [4]. He gives you a special Himself instead of one, and makes the rod of old age a rod of the spirit, to the inanimate temple He adds the animate,5 to the beautiful and heavenly temple another which, however poor and small, is undoubtedly very dear to him, and was accomplished by him with great effort and labor, and (oh, if it could be said!) worthy of his labors. He offers you all that is his own—what generosity, or, more correctly, what love of children! He offers gray hair and youth, a church and a bishop, a testator and an heir, he offers the words [6] that you desired, and words that are not empty, lost in the air and do not penetrate beyond the ear, but which the Spirit writes, not with ink, but with grace, he prints on tablets of stone or flesh — words that are not lightly inscribed on the surface and conveniently erased, but deeply cut. This is what this venerable Abraham, the patriarch, the honorable and honorable head, the repository of all virtues, the model of virtue, the perfection of the priesthood, who now offers a voluntary sacrifice to the Lord, his only-begotten, born according to the promise.

And you, as a gift and fruit, will bring to God and to us the disposition to be a good flock, dwelling in a place of grass and being brought up on the water of rest (Psalm 22:1, 2). Knowing the pastor well and being known by him, follow the one who calls pastorally and freely, through the door, and do not follow a stranger who jumps over the fence, robbery and treacherously. Do not listen to an alien voice, which steals away from the truth and scatters over the mountains, through the deserts, through the wilderness, into places which the Lord does not visit, — a voice that leads away from sound faith in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit, in one Divinity and power; faith, to which the proclamation has always been heard, and may my sheep always hear; do not listen to the voice that with unclean and corrupt words tears away and draws away from the true and first Shepherd. Far from all this, as from a bewitching and deadly potion, may He grant all of us, both pastors and flocks, to be nourished and nourished, and for all now and in eternal rest to be one in Christ Jesus. To Him be glory and dominion forever. Amen.