Gregory of Nyssa Quotes
Gregory of Nyssa was a fourth-century Cappadocian bishop and theologian and one of the architects of orthodox Trinitarian theology. The younger brother of Basil the Great and friend of Gregory of Nazianzus, he played a decisive role at the Council of Constantinople in 381. The quotes below are attributed to Gregory of Nyssa, organized by topic.
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Gregory of Nyssa on Freedom
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“As virtue is a thing that has no master, that is, is free, everything that is free will be united with virtue.”
Dialogue on the Soul and the Resurrection , Patrologia Graeca 46.101-105 -
“Indeed, it was for this that intelligent beings came into existence; namely, that the riches of the Divine blessings should not lie idle. The All-creating Wisdom fashioned these souls, these receptacles with free wills, as vessels as it were, for this very purpose, that there should be some capacities able to receive His blessings and become continually larger with the inpouring of the stream.”
Dialogue on the Soul and the Resurrection
Gregory of Nyssa on God
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Attributed to Gregory of Nyssa:
“He who climbs never stops going from beginning to beginning, through beginnings that have no end.”
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Attributed to Gregory of Nyssa:
“Concepts create idols of God; only wonder grasps anything.”
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Attributed to Gregory of Nyssa:
“The soul that has tasted of the divine grows hungry for more.”
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Attributed to Gregory of Nyssa:
“Every concept formed by the understanding becomes an obstacle to those who seek God.”
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“Evil will come to nought and will be completely destroyed. The divine, pure goodness will contain in itself every nature endowed with reason; nothing made by God is excluded from his kingdom once everything mixed with some elements of base material has been consumed by refinement in fire.”
A Treatise on 1 Corinthians 15.28 -
“Dialogue on the Soul and the Resurrection , Patrologia Graeca 46.101-105”
As virtue is a thing that has no master, that is, is free, everything that is free will be united with virtue. -
“Dialogue on the Soul and the Resurrection”
Indeed, it was for this that intelligent beings came into existence; namely, that the riches of the Divine blessings should not lie idle. The All-creating Wisdom fashioned these souls, these receptacles with free wills, as vessels as it were, for this very purpose, that there should be some capacities able to receive His blessings and become continually larger with the inpouring of the stream. -
“Every concept that comes from some comprehensible image, by an approximate understanding and by guessing at the Divine nature, constitutes an idol of God and does not proclaim God.”
The Life of Moses ; translation, introd. and notes by Abraham J. Malherbe and Everett Ferguson ; pref. by John Meyendorff Page 96 (1978 ed). -
“The love of gain, which is a large, incalculably large, element in every soul, when once applied to the desire for God, will bless the man who has it.”
Chapter 18 -
“Man was made in the image of God; that like, I take it, might be able to see like; and to see God is ... the life of the soul.”
On Infants' Early Deaths
Gregory of Nyssa on Justice
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“My hope is that by the right process of inquiry and discernment, once the text has been cleansed of its obvious literal sense by undefiled thoughts, the philosophy hidden in the words may be brought to light.”
As translated by Richard A. Norris, Jr. (2012) | p. 3
Gregory of Nyssa on Knowledge
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“A Treatise on 1 Corinthians 15.28”
Evil will come to nought and will be completely destroyed. The divine, pure goodness will contain in itself every nature endowed with reason; nothing made by God is excluded from his kingdom once everything mixed with some elements of base material has been consumed by refinement in fire. -
“Homilies on the Beautitudes VI: 1, tr. S. Hall, in H. R. Drobner and A. Viciano (edd.), Gregory of Nyssa: Homilies on the Beatitudes: An English Version and Supporting Studies (Brill, Leiden, 2000).”
People who look down from some high peak on a vast sea below, probably feel what my mind has felt, looking out from the sublime words of the Lord as from a mountain-top at the inexhaustible depth of their meaning. -
“Homilies on Ecclesiastes ; Hall and Moriarty, trs., de Gruyter (New York, 1993) p. 74 .”
I got me slaves and slave-girls.' For what price, tell me? What did you find in existence worth as much as this human nature? What price did you put on rationality? How many obols did you reckon the equivalent of the likeness of God? How many staters did you get for selling that being shaped by God? God said, Let us make man in our own image and likeness. If he is in the likeness of God, and rules -
“Variant translation: Nothing reasonable fails in reason; nothing wise, in wisdom; neither virtue nor truth could admit of that which is not good.”
On Infants' Early Deaths -
“God's name is not known; it is wondered at.”
Commentary on the Song of Songs, quoted in Ware 1995:14. As quoted in Inter-Christian Philosophical Dialogues , Volume 4, Taylor & Francis, 2017. ISBN 9781351617833 , OCLC 1004354917
Gregory of Nyssa on Life
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“One of two probations must be the inevitable fate of him who has had the longer lease of life; either to combat here on Virtue’s toilsome field, or to suffer there the painful recompense of a life of evil.”
On Infants' Early Deaths -
“The Life of Moses ; translation, introd. and notes by Abraham J. Malherbe and Everett Ferguson ; pref. by John Meyendorff Page 96 (1978 ed).”
Wikiquote
Gregory of Nyssa on Love
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Attributed to Gregory of Nyssa:
“What we cannot reach by knowledge, we may reach by love.”
Gregory of Nyssa on Mind
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“People who look down from some high peak on a vast sea below, probably feel what my mind has felt, looking out from the sublime words of the Lord as from a mountain-top at the inexhaustible depth of their meaning.”
Homilies on the Beautitudes VI: 1, tr. S. Hall, in H. R. Drobner and A. Viciano (edd.), Gregory of Nyssa: Homilies on the Beatitudes: An English Version and Supporting Studies (Brill, Leiden, 2000). -
“If we truly think of Christ as our source of holiness, we shall refrain from anything wicked or impure in thought or act and thus show ourselves to be worthy bearers of his name. For the quality of holiness is shown not by what we say but by what we do in life.”
Gregory of Nyssa, On Christian perfection , PG 46: 259-262. As quoted in J. Robert Wright , Readings from the Daily Office for the Early Church , Church Publishing Incorporated, 2013, p. 403. ISBN 9780898698985
Gregory of Nyssa on Nature
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“With the eye in a natural state sight follows necessarily ... In the same way the life of blessedness is as a familiar second nature to those who have kept clear the senses of the soul.”
On Infants' Early Deaths
Gregory of Nyssa on Virtue
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“Is it not want of reason in any one to suppose that when he has striven successfully to escape the dominion of one particular passion, he will find virtue in its opposite?”
Chapter 16 -
“Virtue is achieved by its seekers not without a struggle; nor is abstinence from the paths of pleasure a painless process to human nature.”
On Infants' Early Deaths