Gregory of Nyssa Quotes on Life
Gregory of Nyssa, the fourth-century Cappadocian theologian, understood the spiritual life as an endless ascent toward an infinite God, and the quotes gathered here express that vision. In a phrase marked here as attributed, Gregory describes the one who climbs as never ceasing to go from beginning to beginning, through beginnings that have no end, because God is infinite and the soul's progress toward him has no final term. He held that the very life of the soul is to see God, a vision made possible because the human being is made in God's image, so that like may behold like. Gregory also insisted that holiness is proved in conduct, since the quality of holiness is shown not by what we say but by what we do in life. Drawn from his treatises and homilies, these passages present life as unending growth toward the vision of God.
Quotes
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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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“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 -
“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 -
“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 -
“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