Gregory the Dialogist — Commentary on Scripture

Isaiah 1:16

He who does not keep innocence of life after weeping, neglects to be clean after washing; and those are not clean after washing who, though not ceasing to weep for their sins, yet commit again what has to be wept for.

PASTORAL CARE 3:30

Isaiah 2:2

Who is meant by “mountain of strength” but our Redeemer?

Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 33

Isaiah 3:9-10

Again, they are to be admonished that if they are not afraid of being wicked; they should at least be ashamed of being seen for what they are. Often a sin that is concealed is avoided, because a mind that is ashamed to be taken for what it does not fear to be in fact is sometimes ashamed to be in fact what it avoids appearing to be. On the other hand, when a person is shamelessly and notoriously wicked, then, the more freely he commits every kind of evil, the more he thinks it lawful, and in imagining it lawful, he is thereby without doubt immersed in it all the more. Therefore, it is written, “They have proclaimed abroad their sin as Sodom, and they have not hid it.” For if Sodom had concealed its sin, it would still have sinned, but in fear. But it had completely lost the curb of fear, in that it did not seek even darkness in its sinning. Therefore, it is said again, “The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is multiplied.” For sin in words is sin in act, but sin that is cried out is sin committed with deliberation.

PASTORAL CARE 3:31

Isaiah 5:21

Therefore let each one strive to be great, but yet in some way not know that he is, lest while he arrogantly attributes greatness to himself, he lose it. For hence it is said through the prophet: "Woe to you who are wise in your own eyes, and prudent before yourselves." Hence Paul says: "Be not wise in your own eyes." Hence against the proud Saul it is said: "When you were little in your own eyes, you were made head among the tribes of Israel." As if it were openly said: When you saw yourself as little, I made you great above others. But because you now see yourself as great, you are esteemed little by me.

Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 7

Isaiah 5:21

Those of you who are over others, pay special attention to your neighbors, particularly to those who have not been entrusted to your care. You do not know what good may lie hidden even in those you see doing something wrong. Let each of you, then, strive to be great in virtue, but nonetheless let him know that he is not so in some degree. Otherwise he may proudly attribute his greatness to himself and lose whatever good he has; he might even be rejected because of his sin of pride.

FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 4

Isaiah 6:5

Purity of heart and simplicity are most precious in the sight of Almighty God, who is fully pure and simple in nature. Set apart from the ways of the world, the servants of God are strangers to its vain talk and thus avoid disturbing and soiling their minds in idle conversation.… We are drawn downward by mingling in continual conversation with people of the world. It is with good reason that Isaiah, after seeing the Lord, the King of hosts, accuses himself of this very fault. In a spirit of repentance he says, “Woe is me, because I have held my peace; because I am a man of unclean lips.” And why are his lips unclean? Because, as he explains immediately, “I dwell in the midst of a people that has unclean lips.” Grieving that his own lips are unclean, he shows us that he contracted this defilement by living among a people that had unclean lips.To take part in the talk of worldly people without defiling our own heart is all but impossible. If we permit ourselves to discuss their affairs with them, we grow accustomed to a manner of speech unbecoming to us, and we end clinging to it with…

Purity of heart and simplicity are most precious in the sight of Almighty God, who is fully pure and simple in nature. Set apart from the ways of the world, the servants of God are strangers to its vain talk and thus avoid disturbing and soiling their minds in idle conversation.… We are drawn downward by mingling in continual conversation with people of the world. It is with good reason that Isaiah, after seeing the Lord, the King of hosts, accuses himself of this very fault. In a spirit of repentance he says, “Woe is me, because I have held my peace; because I am a man of unclean lips.” And why are his lips unclean? Because, as he explains immediately, “I dwell in the midst of a people that has unclean lips.” Grieving that his own lips are unclean, he shows us that he contracted this defilement by living among a people that had unclean lips.To take part in the talk of worldly people without defiling our own heart is all but impossible. If we permit ourselves to discuss their affairs with them, we grow accustomed to a manner of speech unbecoming to us, and we end clinging to it with pleasure and are no longer entirely willing to leave it. We enter upon the conversation reluctantly, as a kind of condescension, but we find ourselves carried along from idle words to harmful ones, from trivial faults to serious guilt, with the result that our lips are more defiled with foolish words, and our prayers further and further removed from God’s hearing.… Why should we be surprised, then, if God is slow to hear our petitions when we on our part are slow to hear God’s command or pay no attention whatever to it?

DIALOGUES 3:15

Isaiah 6:6

But Dionysius the Areopagite, that ancient and venerable Father, is said to declare that from the lesser hosts of angels some are sent forth to fulfill their ministry either visibly or invisibly, namely because angels or archangels come for human consolation. For those higher hosts never withdraw from the inner places, since those who are preeminent have no function of external ministry. This seems to be contradicted by what Isaiah says: "And one of the Seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar, and he touched my mouth." But in this statement of the prophet, he wants it understood that the spirits who are sent receive the name of those whose office they perform. For the angel who carries a coal from the altar to burn up the sins of speech is called a Seraphim, which means burning. This interpretation is also believed to be supported not unsuitably by what is said through Daniel: "Thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before him." For ministering is one thing, and standing before is…

But Dionysius the Areopagite, that ancient and venerable Father, is said to declare that from the lesser hosts of angels some are sent forth to fulfill their ministry either visibly or invisibly, namely because angels or archangels come for human consolation. For those higher hosts never withdraw from the inner places, since those who are preeminent have no function of external ministry. This seems to be contradicted by what Isaiah says: "And one of the Seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar, and he touched my mouth." But in this statement of the prophet, he wants it understood that the spirits who are sent receive the name of those whose office they perform. For the angel who carries a coal from the altar to burn up the sins of speech is called a Seraphim, which means burning. This interpretation is also believed to be supported not unsuitably by what is said through Daniel: "Thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before him." For ministering is one thing, and standing before is another, because those minister to God who also go out to us announcing; but those stand before who so enjoy inward contemplation that they are not at all sent forth to accomplish external works.

Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 34

Isaiah 6:7

But Dionysius the Areopagite, that ancient and venerable Father, is said to declare that from the lesser hosts of angels some are sent forth to fulfill their ministry either visibly or invisibly, namely because angels or archangels come for human consolation. For those higher hosts never withdraw from the inner places, since those who are preeminent have no function of external ministry. This seems to be contradicted by what Isaiah says: "And one of the Seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar, and he touched my mouth." But in this statement of the prophet, he wants it understood that the spirits who are sent receive the name of those whose office they perform. For the angel who carries a coal from the altar to burn up the sins of speech is called a Seraphim, which means burning.

Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 34

Isaiah 9:8

Jacob is called the destroyer, but Israel the one who sees God. Does not Jacob symbolize the Jews? And what does Israel represent, if not the people of the Gentiles? The latter, whom Jacob strove to destroy by bodily death, have surely come to see God with the eyes of faith. The word sent to Jacob fell on Israel, therefore, because the one whom the Jews rejected when he came to them has now been discovered and believed by the Gentiles.

MORALS ON THE BOOK OF JOB 1:2.57

Isaiah 9:10

Because the prophet recognized that the Jewish people would perish from the faith and because he foresaw that there would arise within the church holy apostles, through whom many of the Gentiles would be established in the strength of faith and life, he spoke with great encouragement, saying, “The stones have fallen, but we will build with square stones.” Having foreseen the rise of the apostles, martyrs and doctors of the holy church, he was less troubled by the fall of the stones, which represents the judgment of the Jews, because he also saw the work of Almighty God, which is the holy church built from square stones.Four tables were built from the square stones, therefore, inasmuch as faith, life, patience and kindness were given from the lives of the saints as an example for the people to follow, that they might already have a foretaste of the table. That is, the people might know the virtues through which they can offer a sacrifice of prayer to Almighty God on the altars of their hearts. Whatever good the faithful people of the holy church have done or continue to do, then, they…

Because the prophet recognized that the Jewish people would perish from the faith and because he foresaw that there would arise within the church holy apostles, through whom many of the Gentiles would be established in the strength of faith and life, he spoke with great encouragement, saying, “The stones have fallen, but we will build with square stones.” Having foreseen the rise of the apostles, martyrs and doctors of the holy church, he was less troubled by the fall of the stones, which represents the judgment of the Jews, because he also saw the work of Almighty God, which is the holy church built from square stones.Four tables were built from the square stones, therefore, inasmuch as faith, life, patience and kindness were given from the lives of the saints as an example for the people to follow, that they might already have a foretaste of the table. That is, the people might know the virtues through which they can offer a sacrifice of prayer to Almighty God on the altars of their hearts.
Whatever good the faithful people of the holy church have done or continue to do, then, they first received from the exemplary lives of their preachers. For how could they have acquired this foretaste of the table if they had not found the square stones?
Let’s look briefly at each of them, dearest brothers. Do you want to see an instance of faith? “For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Would you like to know what life is like? “The world is crucified to me and I to the world.” Do you want to hear what patience sounds like? “To the present hour we hunger, we are buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our hands. We are cursed and we bless, we are persecuted and we endure, we are slandered and we implore.”

HOMILIES ON EZEKIEL 2:9.5

Isaiah 9:13

Against them the prophet complains to the Lord, saying, “You have bruised them, and they have refused to receive correction.” … Hence again the Lord says, “The people are not returned to him who has struck them.” … Hence the Lord reproaches the people of Israel, captive yet not converted from their iniquity, saying, “The house of Israel is become dross to me; all these are brass, and tin, and iron and lead, in the midst of the furnace.” This is as though he said unmistakably, “I wished to purify them in the fire of tribulation, and I wanted them to become silver or gold. But they have turned from me in the furnace into brass, and tin, and iron and lead, because even in tribulation they have rushed forward not to virtue but to vices.” When brass is struck, it gives off a greater sound than do other metals. He … who when chastised breaks forth into sounds of murmuring has turned to brass in the midst of the furnace. Tin, however, when skillfully treated, presents the deceptive appearance of silver. He therefore who is not free from the vice of pretence in the midst of tribulation has b…

Against them the prophet complains to the Lord, saying, “You have bruised them, and they have refused to receive correction.” … Hence again the Lord says, “The people are not returned to him who has struck them.” … Hence the Lord reproaches the people of Israel, captive yet not converted from their iniquity, saying, “The house of Israel is become dross to me; all these are brass, and tin, and iron and lead, in the midst of the furnace.” This is as though he said unmistakably, “I wished to purify them in the fire of tribulation, and I wanted them to become silver or gold. But they have turned from me in the furnace into brass, and tin, and iron and lead, because even in tribulation they have rushed forward not to virtue but to vices.” When brass is struck, it gives off a greater sound than do other metals. He … who when chastised breaks forth into sounds of murmuring has turned to brass in the midst of the furnace. Tin, however, when skillfully treated, presents the deceptive appearance of silver. He therefore who is not free from the vice of pretence in the midst of tribulation has become tin in the furnace. But he uses iron who plots against the life of the neighbor, and he is iron in the furnace when he does not put away in his tribulations the wickedness of doing harm to neighbors. Lead, again, is heavier than the other metals. He then is found to be lead in the furnace who is so weighed down by the burden of his sin that even in tribulation he is not raised above earthly desires.

PASTORAL CARE 3:13

Isaiah 9:14-15

Where the head and the tail are said through the prophet to be destroyed, it is clear that priests are designated by the head and prophets by the tail. The crown, therefore, is removed from the head when those who are seen to preside over the body of the church abandon the rewards of heavenly compensation. Once its leaders fall, normally, the army that follows them also succumbs. Hence, soon after the condemnation of the leaders, Job comments on the manifold afflictions of the church: “He destroyed me on every side, and I perish; and he has removed my hope like uprooting a tree.” For the church is destroyed on every side and perishes in the persons of its sick members when those who seem to be its strength are corrupted, that is, when the crown is removed from the head because its leaders have abandoned their pursuit of eternal rewards. It is in reference to the sick who have fallen that Job then adds, fittingly: “and he removed my hope like uprooting a tree.” A tree is felled by a gust of wind. And what is more similar to a person who falls into unrighteousness as a result of being…

Where the head and the tail are said through the prophet to be destroyed, it is clear that priests are designated by the head and prophets by the tail. The crown, therefore, is removed from the head when those who are seen to preside over the body of the church abandon the rewards of heavenly compensation. Once its leaders fall, normally, the army that follows them also succumbs. Hence, soon after the condemnation of the leaders, Job comments on the manifold afflictions of the church: “He destroyed me on every side, and I perish; and he has removed my hope like uprooting a tree.” For the church is destroyed on every side and perishes in the persons of its sick members when those who seem to be its strength are corrupted, that is, when the crown is removed from the head because its leaders have abandoned their pursuit of eternal rewards. It is in reference to the sick who have fallen that Job then adds, fittingly: “and he removed my hope like uprooting a tree.” A tree is felled by a gust of wind. And what is more similar to a person who falls into unrighteousness as a result of being terrorized with threats than a tree that loses its straightness because of the wind?

Morals on the Book of Job 3:14.43-44

Isaiah 10:21-22

But grace from above sometimes looks upon these mighty men and afflicts them by the very employments caused by their abundant goods and intersperses with their prosperity adverse but profitable tribulation. [This is done] in order that, being sorrowful, they may turn to their heart and learn how vainly they are engaged in perishable pursuits.… This can be especially understood also of the Jews.… Because they are to be admitted to the faith at the end of the world … it is said by Isaiah, “if the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.” For the light returns to them when they themselves return to confess the power of our Redeemer.

MORALS ON THE BOOK OF JOB 5:27.25-26

Isaiah 10:27

It is possible that the Holy Spirit himself was denoted by the name of oil, concerning which it is said through the prophet: “and the yoke will rot at the presence of the oil.” The yoke rotted at the presence of oil because when we are anointed with the grace of the Holy Spirit, we are liberated from the bondage of our slavery. Then, with the prideful tyranny of the evil spirit broken, the yoke with which the necks of our freedom was oppressed is destroyed. Again, it is written about the oil: “My beloved had a vineyard on a hill called the son of oil.” The son of oil represents the faithful people, whose faith in God is generated by the interior anointing of the Holy Spirit.Although it has been burdened in the past with many tribulations, therefore, let the holy church call to mind the gifts of the Spirit and the marvelous prophecies which it now possesses, and let it lament its silence, saying, “The rock poured out for me streams with oil.”

MORALS ON THE BOOK OF JOB 4:19.24

Isaiah 10:27

It was said by Moses, “They drew honey from the rock, and oil from the hardest rock.” … But because according to Paul, “the rock was Christ,” they drew honey from the rock who saw the deeds and miracles of our Redeemer; and they drew oil from the hard rock because they were found worthy to be anointed with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit after his resurrection.… The gift of the holy anointing flowed out of him through the breathing forth of the Spirit. Of this oil the prophet said, “The yoke will be destroyed from before the oil.”

FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 26

Isaiah 11:2-3

There are seven steps to the gate because the way to heavenly life is opened to us through the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit. Isaiah locates this sevenfold grace in our Head himself, or in his body which we are: “The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord will fill him.” He is speaking here from the perspective of heaven, clearly numbering the steps in descending rather than ascending order: wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, piety and fear. Because it is written, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” the way consists beyond doubt in ascending from fear to wisdom, not in regressing from wisdom to fear, for wisdom surely has perfect charity. It is also written: “Perfect charity casts out fear.” The prophet, therefore, because he reasoned from heavenly realities to the lower things, began with wisdom and descended toward fear.We, however, who strive from the earthly toward the heavenly, enumerate the sa…

There are seven steps to the gate because the way to heavenly life is opened to us through the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit. Isaiah locates this sevenfold grace in our Head himself, or in his body which we are: “The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord will fill him.” He is speaking here from the perspective of heaven, clearly numbering the steps in descending rather than ascending order: wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, piety and fear. Because it is written, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” the way consists beyond doubt in ascending from fear to wisdom, not in regressing from wisdom to fear, for wisdom surely has perfect charity. It is also written: “Perfect charity casts out fear.” The prophet, therefore, because he reasoned from heavenly realities to the lower things, began with wisdom and descended toward fear.We, however, who strive from the earthly toward the heavenly, enumerate the same steps in the ascending order to enable us to make progress from fear to wisdom. In our minds, then, the first step on the way to heaven is the fear of the Lord, the second godliness, the third knowledge, the fourth strength, the fifth counsel, the sixth understanding, and the seventh wisdom. For the fear of the Lord is in the mind. But what kind of fear is it if it is not accompanied by godliness?

HOMILIES ON EZEKIEL 2:7.7

Isaiah 11:2-3

You know that in the Old Testament every work is prescribed by the Ten Commandments, but in the New Testament the power of the same work is given to the increased number of faithful through the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit. The prophet foretells this when he speaks of “the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and devotion, and he will fill him with the spirit of the fear of the Lord.” A person acquires the ability to work in this Spirit who acknowledges faith in the Trinity, believing that Father and Son and the same Holy Spirit are one power and confessing that they are of one substance. Because there are seven commandments, given, as I have said, more widely by the New Testament, and ten given by the Old Testament, all of our power and work can be fully comprised by ten and seven.

FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 24

Isaiah 11:2-3

Indeed, seven children are born to us when, through the conception of a good thought, seven virtues of the Holy Spirit arise within us. The prophet enumerates these interior offspring of the Spirit’s impregnation of the mind when he says, “the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord will fill him.”

MORALS ON THE BOOK OF JOB 1:1.27

Isaiah 11:6

For behold, we who appear clothed in a religious habit have come together from various states of life in the world for the sake of faith in the omnipotent Lord and for hearing his word. We were gathered from many kinds of iniquity into the concord of holy church to make it seen clearly that what was said through the prophet Isaiah about the promise of the church has been accomplished: “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid.” For it is through the organs of holy charity that the wolf will dwell with the lamb, since those who were plunderers in the world now rest in peace with the meek and the tame. And the leopard will lie down with the kid because the person who was stained with the multitude of his sins now agrees to be humbled with the person who despises himself and confesses himself to be a sinner. Isaiah also adds, “and the calf and the lion and the sheep will remain together.” One who prepares himself as a daily sacrifice to God through a contrite heart, and another who once raged with cruelty like a lion, and yet another who remains in…

For behold, we who appear clothed in a religious habit have come together from various states of life in the world for the sake of faith in the omnipotent Lord and for hearing his word. We were gathered from many kinds of iniquity into the concord of holy church to make it seen clearly that what was said through the prophet Isaiah about the promise of the church has been accomplished: “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid.” For it is through the organs of holy charity that the wolf will dwell with the lamb, since those who were plunderers in the world now rest in peace with the meek and the tame. And the leopard will lie down with the kid because the person who was stained with the multitude of his sins now agrees to be humbled with the person who despises himself and confesses himself to be a sinner. Isaiah also adds, “and the calf and the lion and the sheep will remain together.” One who prepares himself as a daily sacrifice to God through a contrite heart, and another who once raged with cruelty like a lion, and yet another who remains in the simplicity of his innocence like a lamb have all come together in the folds of holy church. Behold the kind of charity that enkindles, consumes, melds and reforms such a diversity of minds as though into one species of gold.

HOMILIES ON EZEKIEL 2:4.3

Isaiah 11:7

For when Isaiah observed the life of sinners devoured by the ancient and insatiable enemy, he said, “The lion shall eat straw like the ox.” But what is signified by the words hay and straw except the life of the carnal? Of which it is said by the prophet, “All flesh is hay.” He then who here is “Behemoth,” is there a “lion”; they who are here called “hay,” are there called “straw.” But the mind strives to enquire why this lion in Isaiah, or Behemoth as he is called by the voice of the Lord, is in both passages compared not with a horse but an ox. But we ascertain this the sooner, if we consider what is the difference of foods in the two animals. For horses eat hay, however dirty, but drink clean water only. But oxen drink water, however filthy, but feed only on clean hay. What then is it, for which this Behemoth is compared with an ox, which feeds on clean food, except that which is said of this ancient enemy by another prophet; “His food is choice.”

MORALS ON THE BOOK OF JOB 6:32.18