Gregory of Nyssa: Life of Moses

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  Gregory of Nyssa from the Menologion of Basil II, a manuscript currently  in the Vatican Library. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

  
  

• I met Gregory by reading his Life of Moses.

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  • I love the Bible and reading biographies, and Gregory was 2 for 2.

  • Gregory retold the simple Exodus narrative of Moses and found a process of spiritual growth we all can use.

  • It's a continuous process of improvement flowing from the Word of God.

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  Find a copy and read it prayerfully; you will grow. 

  
  

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381: Gregory of Nyssa (?-394) Life of Moses

Gregory’s Life of Moses can be seen as the first biography of Christian history, but it is much more than that.  GREGORY retells the story of Moses’* (1571-1451BC) life and ministry from Exodus and Numbers but sees it as a spiritual/mystical journey. It views it as:

a pattern of the progress of the SOUL through the temptations of the world to a vision of God.

A notable emphasis of Gregory’s teaching is the principle that the spiritual life is not one of static perfection but of constant progress.

The Life of Moses is a great read and a good devotional book to meditate on. I have been very blessed by it.

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Gregory of Nyssa ( 335 – c. 394) was Bishop of Nyssa from 372 until his death in 394.

He is considered an orthodox trinitarian theologian and upheld the Nicene Creed and fought against Arianism. I first met him through his wonderful biography of Moses*(1571-1451 BC)  381: Gregory of Life of Moses

An asterisk after a name means the person is in SPIRITUAL LIVES

However, one thing about it disturbs me: his universalism. But his universalism is not that of Buddhism, Hinduism, or 21st-century popular thinking. It is a Biblical universalism, which he shared with Origen

Since the mid-twentieth century, there has been a significant increase in interest in Gregory's works from the academic community, particularly involving universal salvation, which has resulted in challenges to many traditional interpretations of his theology.

Gregory was one of the earlier proponents of Christian universalism. He argues that when Paul says that God will be "all in all" (1 Cor. 15:28), this means that though some may need to undergo a long period of purification, eventually "no being will remain outside the number of the saved" and that "no being created by God will fall outside the Kingdom of God". 

Due to the unity of human nature in Christ, "all, thanks to the union with one another, will be joined in communion with the Good, in Jesus Christ Our Lord." Christ's incarnation, death, and resurrection result in "total salvation for human nature."

Gregory also described God's work this way:

"His [God's] end is one, and one only; it is this: when the complete whole of our race shall have been perfected from the first man to the last—some having at once in this life been cleansed from evil, others having afterwards in the necessary periods been healed by the Fire, others having in their life here been unconscious equally of good and of evil—to offer to every one of us participation in the blessings which are in Him, which, the Scripture tells us, 'eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,' nor thought ever reached."

That this is what Gregory believed and taught is affirmed by most scholars. A minority of scholars have argued that Gregory affirmed only the universal resurrection.[58]

In the Life of Moses, Gregory writes that just as the darkness left the Egyptians after three days, perhaps redemption will be extended to those suffering in hell This salvation may extend not only to humans; following Origen, there are passages where he seems to suggest (albeit through the voice of Macrina) that even the demons will have a place in Christ's "world of goodness".[60] 

Gregory's interpretations of 1 Corinthians 15:28 ("And when all things shall be subdued unto him ...") and Philippians 2:10 ("That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth") support this understanding of his theology.[

Nevertheless, in the Great Catechism, Gregory suggests that while every human will be resurrected, salvation will be accorded only to the baptised. However, he also states that others driven by their passions can be saved after being purified by fire. While he believes that there will be no more evil in the hereafter, it is arguable that this does not preclude a belief that God might justly damn sinners for eternity.

Thus, the main difference between Gregory's conception of ἀποκατάστασις and that of Origen would be that Gregory believes that mankind will be collectively returned to sinlessness, whereas Origen believes that personal salvation will be universal.[64] However, this interpretation of Gregory has recently been criticized. After all, at the end of chapter XXXV of the Great Catechism, Gregory writes that those who have not been purified by water through baptism "must needs be purified by fire" so that "after long succeeding ages, their nature may be restored pure again to God"

 These views will not stand up when confronted with the Word of God. Heb 9:27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: and again in Jesus' words, Mat 25:32  And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 

Mat 25:33  And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: Jesus in Matthew 25:33 and 41

Gregory was a brilliant man and a deep thinker, but he was led astray by philosophy: As St. Paul warned the Colossians:

 Col_2:8  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Gregory also taught the infinity of God, which of course is true, but he went further and taught that He is incomprehensible to created beings. What a contrast to what Jesus says:

 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 

Mat 18:3  And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom.

The very purpose of Jesus' incarnation was to be like us, and He wants us to touch Him:

 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. -Gregory was a brilliant scholar and philosopher, in the league with Immanuel Kant (1723-1804) and Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813 –1855). They were all Believers and we can learn from them, but each wound up in error when they strayed from the Bible, the Word of God.

The nature of science and worldly wisdom in change: One song I love puts it liie this: On Christ the Solid Rock I stand/ All other ground is sinking sand/ All otherground is sinking sand.

Whatever we see, read or hear must align itself with the Bible, or there will be error, heresy, and eternal loss.

The Bi­ble stands like a rock un­daunt­ed

’Mid the rag­ing storms of time;

Its pag­es burn with the truth eter­nal,

And they glow with a light sub­lime.

Refrain

The Bi­ble stands though the hills may tum­ble,

It will firm­ly stand when the earth shall crum­ble;

I will plant my feet on its firm foun­da­tion,

For the Bi­ble stands.

The Bi­ble stands like a mount­ain tow­er­ing

Far above the works of men;

Its truth by none ev­er was re­fut­ed,

And des­troy it they nev­er can.

Refrain

The Bi­ble stands and it will for­ev­er,

When the world has passed away;

By in­spir­ation it has been giv­en,

All its pre­cepts I will ob­ey.

Refrain

The Bi­ble stands ev­ery test we give it,

For its au­thor is di­vine;

By grace alone I ex­pect to live it,

And to prove and to make it mine.

Refrain

Words & Mu­sic: Hal­dor Lil­le­nas, 1917