Gregory of Nazianzus — Commentary on Scripture

Micah 3:12

Hence again the divine Micah was unable to brook the building of Zion with blood, however you interpret the phrase, and of Jerusalem with iniquity. Meanwhile, these heads of the house of Jacob abhorred justice. The priests were teaching for hire. The prophets were prophesying for money! What does Micah say will be the result of this? “Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be as a storehouse of fruit, and the mountain of the house shall be as the grove of the forest.” He bewails also the scarcity of the upright, there being scarcely a stalk or a gleaming grape left, since both the prince asks and the judge curries favor, so that his language is almost the same as the mighty David’s: “Save me, O Lord, for the godly man ceases.” Their blessings shall fail them, for “you consume like a moth what is dear to him.”

IN DEFENSE OF HIS FLIGHT TO PONTUS, ORATION 2:58

Micah 6:3

Would you like me to utter to you the words of God to Israel, stiff-necked and hardened? “O my people, what have I done to you, or in what way have I injured you, or wherein have I wearied you?” This language indeed is more fit from me to you who insult me. It is a sad thing that we watch for opportunities against each other and having destroyed our fellowship of spirit by diversities of opinion have become almost more inhuman and savage to one another than even the barbarians who are now engaged in war against us, banded together against us by the Trinity whom we have separated. We are not foreigners making forays and raids upon foreigners or nations of a different language, which is some little consolation in the calamity. But we are making war upon one another, and almost upon those of the same household. Or if you will, we the members of the same body are consuming and being consumed by one another. Nor is this, bad as it is, the extent of our calamity, for we even regard our diminution as a gain. But since we are in such a condition and regulate our faith by the times, let us co…

Would you like me to utter to you the words of God to Israel, stiff-necked and hardened? “O my people, what have I done to you, or in what way have I injured you, or wherein have I wearied you?” This language indeed is more fit from me to you who insult me. It is a sad thing that we watch for opportunities against each other and having destroyed our fellowship of spirit by diversities of opinion have become almost more inhuman and savage to one another than even the barbarians who are now engaged in war against us, banded together against us by the Trinity whom we have separated. We are not foreigners making forays and raids upon foreigners or nations of a different language, which is some little consolation in the calamity. But we are making war upon one another, and almost upon those of the same household. Or if you will, we the members of the same body are consuming and being consumed by one another. Nor is this, bad as it is, the extent of our calamity, for we even regard our diminution as a gain. But since we are in such a condition and regulate our faith by the times, let us compare the times with one another; you your emperor, and I my sovereigns; you Ahab and I Josiah.

AGAINST THE ARIANS AND ON HIMSELF, ORATION 33:2

Micah 7:6

Just what is the work of the axe? The excision of the soul that is incurably fruitless, like the tree even after the dung has been applied. And what does the sword do? The sword of the Word cuts through defenses. It does the work of separating the worse from the better. It actually creates a division between the faithful and the unbeliever. It may even stir up the son and the daughter and the bride against the father and the mother and the mother-in-law, the young and fresh against the old and shadowy. Accordingly, what is the latchet of the shoe, which you, John, who baptized Jesus, may not let loose? You who are of the desert, without food, you, the new Elijah, you who are more than a prophet, inasmuch as you saw him of whom you did prophesy, you the mediator of the Old and New Testaments. What is this latchet? It is precisely the message of the advent, the incarnation. No one can make it happen—neither those yet carnal and babes in Christ nor those who are akin to John in spirit.

ON THE HOLY LIGHTS, ORATION 39:15