Gregory of Nyssa

In his own words on 1 Corinthians

• 1 Corinthians 1:24

  Through this description of Christ we derive notions of the divine which make the name an object of reverence for us. Since all creation, both perceptible and imperceptible, came into being through him and is united with him, wisdom is necessarily interwoven with power in connection with the very definition of Christ, the maker of all things.

  ON PERFECTION

• 1 Corinthians 1:30

  We are taught by the knowledge that Christ is redemption, because he gave himself as an atonement on our behalf, that when he bestowed immortality on us as our own possession, he ransomed us from death with his own life.

  ON PERFECTION

• 1 Corinthians 9:24

  As far as you extend your efforts in behalf of piety, so far will the greatness of your soul extend through efforts and toils toward what the Lord urges us.

  ON THE CHRISTIAN MODE OF LIFE

• 1 Corinthians 10:3

  The divine apostle also, in calling the Lord "spiritual food and drink," suggests that he knows that human nature is not simple, but that there is an intelligible part mixed with a sensual part and that a particular type of nurture is needed for each of the elements in us—sensible food to strengthen our bodies and spiritual food for the well-being of our souls.

  ON PERFECTION

• 1 Corinthians 10:4

  We also will be a rock, imitating, as far as possible in our changing nature, the unchanging and permanent nature of the Master.

  ON PERFECTION

• 1 Corinthians 12:14

  So is the broad serenity and calm of the soul troubled by one invading passion, and affected by the injury of a single part. They tell us too, those who have investigated the subject, that the virtues are not disunited from each other, and that to grasp the principle of any one virtue will be impossible to one who has not seized that which underlies the rest, and that the man who shows one virtue in his character will necessarily show them all. Therefore, by contraries, the depravation of anything in our moral nature will extend to the whole virtuous life; and in very truth, as the Apostle tells us, the whole is affected by the parts, and "if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it," "if one be honoured, all rejoice."

  On Virginity 15

• 1 Corinthians 15:38

  When explaining this mystery to the Corinthians, who, perhaps, themselves were bringing forward the same objections to it as its impugners to-day bring forward to overthrow our faith, he proceeds on his own authority to chide the audacity of their ignorance, and speaks thus: "Thou wilt say, then, to me, How are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die; And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat or of some other grain; But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him." In that passage, as it seems to me, he gags the mouths of men who display their ignorance of the fitting proportions in Nature, and who measure the Divine power by their own strength, and think that only so much is possible to God as the human understanding can take in, but that what is beyond it surpasses also the Divine ability.

  ON THE SOUL AND THE RESURRECTION

• 1 Corinthians 15:52

  Thou, O Lord, hast freed us from the fear of death. Thou hast made the end of this life the beginning to us of true life. Thou for a season restest our bodies in sleep and awakest them again at the last trump. Thou givest our earth, which Thou hast fashioned with Thy hands, to the earth to keep in safety. One day Thou wilt take again what Thou hast given, transfiguring with immortality and grace our mortal and unsightly remains. … As she said these words she sealed her eyes and mouth and heart with the cross. And gradually her tongue dried up with the fever, she could articulate her words no longer, and her voice died away, and only by the trembling of her lips and the motion of her hands did we recognise that she was praying. Meanwhile evening had come and a lamp was brought in… But when she had finished the thanksgiving, and her hand brought to her face to make the Sign had signified the end of the prayer, she drew a great deep breath and closed her life and her prayer together.

  The Life of St. Macrina