Gregory the Dialogist

Because our Lord and Redeemer came into the world as a new man, he gave new precepts to the world. For he set the newness of himself in opposition to our old life nourished in vices. For what did the old, what did the carnal man know except to hold onto his own things, to seize what belongs to others if he could, or to covet them if he could not? But the heavenly physician applies remedies that counteract each and every vice. For just as in the art of medicine hot things are cured by cold and cold things by hot, so our Lord set forth teachings contrary to sins, so that he might command continence to the unchaste, generosity to the greedy, gentleness to the wrathful, and humility to the proud. Certainly when he set forth new commandments to those following him, he said: "Unless someone renounces all that he possesses, he cannot be my disciple." As if he were saying openly: You who through your old life covet what belongs to others, through the pursuit of a new way of life give away even your own things. But let us hear what he says in this reading: "Whoever wishes to come after me, let him deny himself." There it is said that we should deny our possessions; here it is said that we should deny ourselves. And perhaps it is not difficult for a person to leave behind his possessions, but it is very difficult to leave behind himself. For it is a lesser thing to deny what one has, but it is a very great thing to deny what one is.

To those coming to him, the Lord commanded that we renounce our possessions, because all of us who come to the contest of faith take up a struggle against evil spirits. But evil spirits possess nothing of their own in this world. Therefore we must wrestle naked against those who are naked. For if someone clothed wrestles with someone naked, he is thrown to the ground more quickly because he has something by which he can be seized. For what are all earthly things except certain garments of the body? Therefore, whoever hastens to the contest against the devil should cast off his garments lest he be overcome. Let him possess nothing in this world by loving it; let him seek no pleasures of passing things, lest where he is covered according to his wish, he be seized for his fall from that very thing. Yet it is not enough to leave behind our possessions unless we also leave behind ourselves. What is it that we are saying: "Let us also leave behind ourselves"? For if we leave ourselves behind, where shall we go outside of ourselves? Or who is it that goes if he has abandoned himself? But we are one thing having fallen through sin, another thing as created by nature; one thing is what we have made ourselves, another is what we were made. Let us leave behind ourselves as we made ourselves by sinning, and let us remain ourselves as we were made through grace. For behold, if someone who was proud, having been converted to Christ, has become humble, he has left himself behind. If any lustful person has changed his life to continence, he has certainly denied what he was. If any greedy person has now ceased to grasp at things and has learned to give away his own possessions who previously seized what belonged to others, without doubt he has left himself behind. He himself indeed remains by nature, but he is not himself by malice. For thus it is written: "Turn the wicked, and they shall not be." For the wicked when converted shall not be—not because they shall not exist at all in essence, but surely they shall not be in the guilt of wickedness. Therefore we leave ourselves behind, we deny ourselves, when we avoid what we were through oldness and strive toward that to which we are called through newness. Let us consider how Paul had denied himself, who said: "Yet I live, now not I." For that savage persecutor had been extinguished, and the devout preacher had begun to live. For if he himself were still that same person, he would certainly not be devout. But let him who denies that he lives say from where it is that he proclaims holy words through the teaching of truth. He immediately adds: "But Christ lives in me." As if he were saying openly: I indeed have been extinguished from myself because I do not live carnally; yet I have not died essentially because I live spiritually in Christ. Therefore let the Truth speak, let him say: "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself." Because unless someone falls away from himself, he does not draw near to him who is above himself; nor is he able to grasp what is beyond himself if he does not know how to sacrifice what he is. So seedlings of vegetables are transplanted so that they may flourish, and, if I may say so, they are uprooted so that they may grow. So seeds of things perish when mixed with the earth, so that in the renewal of their kind they may rise up more abundantly. For from where they seem to have lost what they were, from there they receive the ability to appear as what they were not.

But he who now denies himself from vices must seek out the virtues in which he may grow. For when it was said: "Whoever wishes to come after me, let him deny himself," it is immediately added: "And let him take up his cross, and follow me." For the cross is taken up in two ways: either when the body is afflicted through abstinence, or when the mind is troubled through compassion for one's neighbor. Let us consider how Paul had borne his cross in both ways, who said: "I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps while preaching to others I myself should become a castaway." Behold, in the affliction of the body we have heard of the cross of the flesh; let us now hear of the cross of the mind in compassion for one's neighbor. For he says: "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire?" Indeed the perfect preacher, in order to give an example of abstinence, carried the cross in his body. And because he drew upon himself the losses of another's weakness, he carried the cross in his heart.

But because certain vices lie close to these very virtues, we must explain which vice besieges abstinence of the flesh and which besieges compassion of the mind. For vainglory often besieges abstinence of the flesh from nearby, because when thinness in the body and pallor in the face are observed, the revealed virtue is praised; and it pours itself outward all the more quickly, the more it appears to human eyes through the display of pallor. And it often happens that what is believed to be done for God's sake is done solely for human approval. This is well signified by that Simon who, found on the road, carries the Lord's cross under compulsion. For burdens belonging to another are carried under compulsion when something is done through the pursuit of vanity. Who then are designated by Simon, if not the abstinent and arrogant? They indeed afflict the flesh through abstinence, but they do not seek the fruit of abstinence within. Therefore Simon carries the Lord's cross under compulsion, because when he is not led to a good work by good will, a sinner performs the deed of a just man without fruit. Hence the same Simon carries the cross but does not die, because the abstinent and arrogant indeed afflict the body through abstinence, but through the desire for glory they live to the world. False piety, however, often secretly besieges compassion of the soul, so that it sometimes drags it down even to condoning vices, whereas one ought not to exercise compassion toward faults, but zeal. For compassion is owed to the person, and rectitude to the vices, so that in one and the same person we both love the good that he was made and pursue the evils that he has done, lest while we carelessly remit faults, we seem not to have shown compassion through charity, but to have fallen through negligence.

Often moreover we overcome greed, but there still remains this obstacle: that we hold to the ways of righteousness with too little guardianship of perfection. For often we despise all things that are passing away, yet we are still hindered by the custom of human respect, so that we are not yet able to express in voice the righteousness we preserve in mind; and we neglect the face of God in defense of justice as much as we fear human faces against justice. But to this wound also an appropriate remedy is added when the Lord says: He who shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed when he shall come in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

But behold, now people say to themselves: We no longer are ashamed of the Lord and His words, because we profess Him with open voice. To these I respond that in this Christian people there are some who confess Christ for the reason that they see everyone else is Christian. For if the name of Christ were not in such great glory today, the holy Church would not have so many who profess Christ. Therefore the voice of profession is not sufficient as proof of faith, when the profession of the generality defends it from shame. Yet there is a way for each person to examine himself, to prove himself truly in the confession of Christ: whether he is no longer ashamed of His name, whether with full strength of mind he has subdued human shame. Certainly in a time of persecution the faithful could be ashamed of being stripped of their possessions, cast down from positions of dignity, afflicted with beatings. But in a time of peace, because these things are absent from our persecutions, there is another way in which we are shown to ourselves. We often fear being despised by our neighbors, we disdain to tolerate verbal injuries; if perhaps a quarrel arises with a neighbor, we are ashamed to make satisfaction first. For the carnal heart, while it seeks the glory of this life, rejects humility. And very often the very person who is angry desires to be reconciled with the one who disagrees with him, but is ashamed to go first to make satisfaction. Let us consider the deeds of the Truth, that we may see where the actions of our depravity lie. For if we are members of the supreme Head, we ought to imitate Him to whom we are joined. For what does Paul, that outstanding preacher, say as an example for our instruction? We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were exhorting through us; we beseech you for Christ's sake, be reconciled to God. Behold, by sinning we have created discord between ourselves and God, and yet God first sent His ambassadors to us, so that we ourselves who sinned might come to peace with God when asked. Therefore let human pride be ashamed, let anyone be confounded who does not first make satisfaction to his neighbor, when after our fault, so that we might be reconciled to Him, God Himself who was offended beseeches us through intervening ambassadors.

And he said to them: "Amen I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God coming in power." The kingdom of God, dearest brothers, is not always called the coming kingdom in sacred Scripture, but sometimes the present Church is so called. Hence it is written: "The Son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of scandal." In that kingdom, indeed, there will be no scandals, where certainly the reprobate are not admitted. By this example it is understood that in this passage the kingdom of God refers to the present Church. And because some of the disciples were going to live in the body long enough to see the Church of God built and raised up against the glory of this world, it is now said as a consoling promise: "There are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God." But when the Lord was giving such great precepts about the death that must be undergone, what need was there to come suddenly to this promise? If we consider carefully, we recognize with what great dispensation of love this is done. For to the inexperienced disciples something had to be promised even about the present life, so that they could be strengthened more firmly for the future. Thus to the Israelite people, about to be freed from the land of Egypt, the promised land was promised, and when they were to be called to heavenly gifts, they were persuaded by earthly promises. Why was this? So that while there was something they could receive nearby, they might then more faithfully believe what they could hear about from afar. For a carnal people, if they did not receive small things, would not believe in great things. Therefore Almighty God, by granting earthly things, persuades toward heavenly things, so that by receiving what they could see, they might learn to hope for what they could not see at all; and they would become all the more firm regarding invisible things, inasmuch as visible promises supported them toward certainty of hope.

For we must continually weigh what is said to the holy apostles, and through the apostles to us: You are the salt of the earth. If therefore we are salt, we ought to season the minds of the faithful. You then, who are shepherds, consider that you are feeding God's animals. Concerning these animals indeed it is said to God through the Psalmist: Your animals shall dwell in it. And we often see that a block of salt is set before brute animals, so that they may lick that same block of salt and be improved. Therefore, like a block of salt among brute animals, so should the priest be among the people. For the priest must take care what he says to each person, how he admonishes each one, so that whoever is joined to the priest may be seasoned with the taste of eternal life, as if from the touch of salt. For we are not the salt of the earth if we do not season the hearts of our hearers. Indeed, he truly bestows this seasoning upon his neighbor who does not withhold the word of preaching.

If therefore the people are the food of God, the priests ought to have been the seasoning of the food. But because while we cease from the practice of prayer and holy instruction, the salt has become tasteless; it cannot season the food of God, and therefore it is not taken up by the Creator, because through our prevailing foolishness it is not seasoned at all.

There follows: "You are my friends." O how great is the mercy of our Creator! We are not worthy to be servants, and we are called friends. How great is the dignity of men to be friends of God! But you have heard the glory of this dignity; hear also the labor of the struggle: "If you do what I command you." "You are my friends, if you do what I command you." As if He were saying openly: You rejoice at the height; consider by what labors one arrives at the height. Surely when the sons of Zebedee, through the intervention of their mother, sought that one should sit at the right hand of God and the other at the left, they heard: "Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?" They were already seeking the place of exaltation; the Truth calls them back to the way by which they might come to exaltation. As if it were said: The place of exaltation already delights you, but first let the way of labor exercise you. Through the cup one reaches majesty. If your mind desires what pleases, first drink what causes pain. Thus, thus through the bitter cup of affliction one arrives at the joy of salvation.

But the miracles of our Lord and Savior are to be received, dearest brothers, in such a way that we both believe them to have truly occurred, and yet understand that through their significance they indicate something to us. For His works both show one thing through their power and speak another through their mystery. For the blind man is the human race, which, expelled from the joys of paradise in its first parent, ignorant of the brightness of the light above, suffers the darkness of its condemnation; but yet is illuminated through the presence of its Redeemer, so that it now sees the joys of the inner light through desire, and sets the steps of good work upon the way of life.

It must be noted that when Jesus is said to draw near to Jericho, the blind man is illuminated. For Jericho is interpreted as "moon," and the moon in sacred speech stands for the weakness of the flesh, because as it wanes through its monthly phases, it signifies the weakness of our mortality. Therefore, while our Creator draws near to Jericho, the blind man returns to light, because when the divinity took on the weakness of our flesh, the human race received back the light it had lost.