Select Orations (2/40/43) 3-1 part 5/5

he loved frugal nourishment, cleansing himself for God through self-control;

and this man too was deemed worthy to become a herald of Christ, even if not a forerunner;

and there went out to him not only all the surrounding country, but already even those beyond the borders;

and this man too stood midway between the two covenants, abolishing the letter of the one, and publishing the spirit of the other, and making the fulfillment of the hidden law to be the abolition of the visible.

He imitated the zeal of Peter, the intensity of Paul, the faith of both—those renowned and renamed men;

the loud-voiced power of the sons of Zebedee;

the frugality and simplicity of all the disciples.

And he embraced not merely as much ground for the gospel as from Jerusalem to Illyricum, but a greater circuit;

and he is a son of thunder—not so named, but so becoming;

and lying upon the breast of Jesus, thence he draws the power of the word and the depth of conceptions.

For Stephen indeed was prevented from coming to be such, though he was eager, restraining out of reverence those who were stoning him.

But I am able to speak yet more briefly, lest I should go through these matters one by one;

for that man discovered some of the good things, emulated others, and conquered yet others;

and by passing through all of them, he prevailed over all who are now alive.

One thing above all I will say, and it is brief.

So great was the man's virtue and the abundance of his glory, that many even of his small traits—indeed even of his bodily defects—were devised by others as means to good repute;

such as I mean his pallor and beard and manner of walking, and his not being hasty in speech, and being thoughtful for the most part, and inwardly recollected;

which, being ill emulated and not understood by the many, became gloominess;

and further, the form of his dress and the fashion of his couch and his manner of eating, none of which was a matter of study to him, but was simple and fell out as it chanced.

And you may see many Basils as far as the outward appearance—statues in shadows;

for it is much to say that they are even the after-sound of an echo;

for that, though it be the last of the voice, yet renders it more vividly;

but these fall further short of the man than they desire to draw near.

But this is no longer a small thing, but indeed a very great one for distinction, and rightly so: to have once drawn near to him, or ministered to him, or to bear some memorial of something said or done in jest or in earnest—as indeed I too know I have often prided myself on doing;

since even the man's by-works are far more precious and conspicuous than the labored works of others.

But when, having finished the course and kept the faith, he longed for his departure, and the time of the crowns was at hand, he did not hear that word:

"Go up into the mountain and die"—but rather, "Die, and come up to us"—he works some marvel here too, not less than those things foretold.

For being now almost dead and breathless, and having left the greatest part of life behind, he becomes more vigorous concerning his parting words, that he might depart with the words of piety, and by the laying on of hands he gives his hand and the Spirit to the most genuine of his ministers;

so that the sanctuary might not be deprived of his disciples and the partakers of his priesthood.

But at what follows the discourse shrinks from advancing, yet it will go forward nonetheless, even though the discourse befits others rather than us.

For I am not able to philosophize amid my grief, even though I have earnestly desired to philosophize, mindful of the common loss, and of the suffering that has seized the whole world.

The man lay breathing his last, and being sought after by the choir above, toward which he had long been looking.

And all the city was poured out around him, not bearing the loss, and crying out against his departure as against a tyranny, and clinging to his soul as to one that could be held back and forced to stay, whether by hands or by entreaties;

for the suffering made them even frenzied;

each one was eager for him, if it had been possible. But when they were overcome (for it was necessary that he be proved to be a man), and having last said, "Into Thy hands I will commit my spirit," he breathed out his life not unpleasantly into the angels who were leading him away;

having in some measure initiated those present into the mysteries and made them better by his charges;

then indeed there occurs a wonder most renowned of all that have ever taken place.

The holy one was borne forth, lifted up by the hands of holy men;

and there was eagerness in each one—one to lay hold of the hem, another of the shadow, another of the holy-bearing bier—and just to touch it!

for what was holier or purer than that body? Others were eager to come near to those bearing him, others to enjoy only the sight, as though even that conveyed some benefit.

Full were the marketplaces, the porticoes, the two-storied and three-storied buildings, with those escorting him, going before, following, accompanying alongside, trampling upon one another—myriads of every race and every age, not known before;

psalmody overcome by lamentations, and the philosophic spirit dissolved by grief;

and there was a contest between our own people and those outside—Greeks, Jews, foreigners;

and between them and us, as to who, having wept the more, might partake of the greater benefit.

The end of the matter: the grief turned even to danger;

for not a few souls departed together with him, by the violence of the pressing and the tumult;

and these were even accounted blessed in their end, as fellow-travelers with him, and funeral sacrifices—so perhaps one of the more fervent might say.

And the body, having with difficulty escaped those snatching at it, and prevailed over those leading the procession, is thus given to the tomb of the fathers, and the high priest is added to the priests, the great voice and the one resounding in my ears to the heralds, the martyr to the martyrs.

And now, he indeed is in the heavens, and there, as I believe, offering sacrifices on our behalf and praying for the people;

for though he has left us, he has not utterly forsaken us;

but I, Gregory, am half-dead and cut in two, torn from the great pairing, and dragging out a life painful and not running its course freely, such as is to be expected of one separated from him, not knowing to what end I shall come after his guidance;

by whom even now I am still admonished, and brought to sober-mindedness through nightly visions, if ever I should fall outside of what is fitting.

And it is not only I who thus mingle laments with praises, and write the record of the man's public life, and set before time a common tablet of virtue and a saving inscription for all the churches, for all souls;

looking to which we will direct our life, as to a living law;

and I would counsel you—you who have been initiated into his ways—nothing other than always to look to him, and as those both seeing and seen, to be perfected by the Spirit.

It seems to me that widows will praise their protector, and orphans their father, and the poor the lover of the poor, and strangers the lover of strangers, and brothers the lover of brothers, the sick their physician—whatever sickness and healing you wish—those in health the guardian of health, and all of them the one who became all things to all, that he might gain all or the more.

These things are from us to you, O Basil—from a tongue once most dear to you, of equal honor and of like age.

If it is near to your worth, this is your grace;

for trusting in you, I undertook this discourse about you;

but if it is far and very much short of expectation, what must we suffer, worn out as we are by old age and sickness and longing for you? Yet even what is according to our ability is dear to God.

But may you watch over us from above, O divine and holy head, and either stay by your own intercessions the thorn in the flesh given to us by God—our chastening—or persuade us to bear it bravely;

and may you direct our whole life toward what is most profitable.

And if we should depart, may you receive us even from there into your own tabernacles, that living together with one another and beholding together the holy and blessed Trinity more purely and more perfectly—of which we now have received the reflections but in part—we may there come to a stay of our longing, and may receive this as the recompense of the wars we have waged and have suffered.

So this discourse from us is for you;

but who shall praise us, when after you we depart this life? Even if we should offer anything worthy of praise in our words—in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory unto the ages. Amen.