|
from the Dialogue on the Soul and
the Resurrection,
* Patrologia Graeca 46.101-105
translated by W. Moore & H. A. Wilson *
Greek Fonts ||| Gregory of Nyssa Home Page
OW liberty is the coming up to a state which owns no master and is self-regulating ; it is that with which we were gifted by God at the beginning, but which has been obscured by the feeling of shame arising from indebtedness. Liberty too is in all cases one and the same essentially; it has a natural attraction to itself. It follows, then, that as everything that is free will be united with its like, and as virtue is a thing that has no master, that is, is free, everything that is free will be united with virtue. But, further, the Divine Being is the fountain of all virtue. Therefore, those who have parted with evil will be united with Him; and so, as the Apostle says (I Cor. 15.28), God will be "all in all "; for this utterance seems to me plainly to confirm the opinion we have already arrived at, for it means that God will be instead of all other things, and in all. |
ἐν ἀρετῇ γενήσεται πᾶν τὸ ἐλεύθερον Ἡ δ΄ ἐλευθερία ἐστὶν ἡ πρὸς τὸ ἀδέσποτόν τε καὶ αὐτοκρατὲς ἐξομοίωσις͵ ἡ κατ΄ ἀρχὰς μὲν ἡμῖν παρὰ Θεοῦ δεδωρημένη͵ συγκαλυφθεῖσα τῇ τῶν ὀφλημάτων αἰσχύνῃ. Πᾶσα δ΄ ἐλευθερία μία τίς ἐστι τῇ φύσει καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὴν οἰκείως ἔχει. Ἀκολούθως οὖν πᾶν τὸ ἐλεύθερον τῷ ὁμοίῳ συναρμοσθήσεται· ἀρετὴ δὲ ἀδέσποτον. Οὐκοῦν ἐν ταύτῃ γενήσεται πᾶν τὸ ἐλεύθερον͵ ἀδέσποτον γὰρ τὸ ἐλεύθερον. Ἀλλὰ μὴν ἡ θεία φύσις ἡ πηγὴ πάσης ἐστὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς. Ἐν ταύτῃ ἄρα οἱ τῆς κακίας ἀπηλλαγμένοι γενήσονται͵ ἵνα͵ καθώς φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος͵ ὁ Θεὸς τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν. Αὕτη γὰρ ἡ φωνὴ σαφῶς μοι δοκεῖ βεβαιοῦν τὴν προεξητασμένην διάνοιαν͵ ἡ λέγουσα͵ καὶ εἰς πάντα γενέσθαι τὸν Θεὸν͵ καὶ ἐν πᾶσι. |
|
Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/fathers/gregory-of-nyssa-freedom.asp