Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Series 2 - The Still Small ...

our sins, but we propitiate our God not as you do, in the words of mere man, but in the oracles
of the Spirit. And what evidence have you that this custom was not followed in the
time of the great Gregory? You have kept none of his customs up to the present time. 2760
Gregory did not cover his head at prayer. How could he? He was a true disciple of the
Apostle who says, “Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth
his head.” 2761 And “a man indeed ought not to cover his head forasmuch as he is the image
of God.” 2762 Oaths were shunned by Gregory, that pure soul, worthy of the fellowship of
the Holy Ghost, content with yea and nay, in accordance with the commandment of the
Lord Who said, “I say unto you swear not at all.” 2763 Gregory could not bear to call his
brother a fool, 2764 for he stood in awe of the threat of the Lord. Passion, wrath, and bitterness
never proceeded out of his mouth. Railing he hated, because it leads not to the kingdom of
heaven. Envy and arrogance had been shut out of that guiltless soul. He would never have
stood at the altar before being reconciled to his brother. A lie, or any word designed to
slander any one, he abominated, as one who knew that lies come from the devil, and that
the Lord will destroy all that utter a lie. 2765 If you have none of these things, and are clear
of all, then are you verily disciples of the disciple of the Lord; if not, beware lest, in your
disputes about the mode of singing psalms, you are straining at the gnat and setting at naught
the greatest of the commandments.
I have been driven to use these expressions by the urgency of my defence, that you may
be taught to cast the beam out of your own eyes before you try to remove other men’s motes.
Nevertheless, I am conceding all, although there is nothing that is not searched into before
God. Only let great matters prevail, and do not allow innovations in the faith to make
themselves heard. Do not disregard the hypostases. Do not deny the name of Christ. Do
2760 This reproach appears to be in contradiction with the statement in De Spiritu Sancto, § 74 (page 47),
that the Church of Neocæsarea had rigidly preserved the traditions of Gregory. The Ben. note would remove
the discrepancy by confining the rigid conservatism to matters of importance. In these the Neocæsareans would
tolerate no change, and allowed no monasteries and no enrichment of their liturgies with new rites. “Litanies,”
however, are regarded as comparatively unimportant innovations. The note concludes: Neque enim secum ipse
pugnat Basilius, cum Neocæsarienses laudat in libro De Spiritu Sancto, quod Gregorii instituta arctissime teneant.
hic autem vituperat quod ea omnino reliquerint. Illic enim respicit ad exteriora instituta, hic autem ad virtutum
exemplar, convicii et iracundiæ fugam, odium juris jurandi et mendacii.
2761 1 Cor. xi. 4.
2762 1 Cor. xi. 7.
2763 Matt. v. 34.
2764 cf. Matt. v. 22.
2765 Ps. v. 6, LXX.
To the clergy of Neocæsarea.
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