Gregory of Nazianzus De Spiritu Sancto (Orat. 31) 23

1. 23. 6 om η e2 || 7 ὀνομαστὶ] + καὶ η ἀθετήσομεν ἐπειδὴ οὐ γέγραπται bed, nisi quod om καὶ cd || 9 ἐφ’ ω] ἐφ’ ο ac2

2. 2. προσίεσθαι] ‘to welcome’; ii 119.

3. ib. ὅλως] ‘in short.’

4. 4. ἀνεζωγράφησεν] ‘has depicted,’ i.e. ‘has suggested the form of.’ should almost have expected the inversion of the sentence, — that bodily things depict the powers and operations of God; but either way is intelligible.

5. 23. (2) There are th ings not said which are nevertheless true, — among them facts of which you make a deal. (3) Things neither said nor true. (4) Things both true and said.

6. 5. πάλιν] Instances of true things not found in Scripture.

7. 6. τὰς σὰς ἀκροπ.] ‘those fortresses of yours’; cp. below τοῦ τῆς καταφυγῆς.

8. 7. ἢ διαγράψομεν] Cp. iii 8. The words ἢ ἀθετήσομεν, ἐπειδὴ οὐ γέγραπται seem to be an ancient gloss to explain ἢ διαγράψομεν. They offer no real alternative to it ; and the variation of the mss. which contain them between ἢ and καὶ ἢ indicates the uncertainty of their footing. If they are to be retained, the only sense that can be got out of them would be this: — Shew us the words ἀγέννητον, ἄναρχον in the Bible, and we will either reject the Holy Ghost’s Divinity for not being found there, or (if we can prove that it is there) we will erase both it and your two words together. But this would be very cumbrous. Omitting the words, the sense is plain. Gr. retaliates ; — Shew us ἀγένν., ἄναρχ. in the Bible, or we will discard them, and you will die by your own rules. The perf. τέθνηκας gives vividness to the argument. Probably the gloss was introduced because Gr. ’s word διαγράψομεν seemed itself to imply that the words ἀγέννητον etc. were to be found written in Scripture. How can that be erased which was never written? The scribe wished to substitute for διαγρ. the more general word ἀθετήσομεν, ‘because the expressions in question are not written.’ It may be that the correction might be due to Gr. himself; but (1) its place in the MSS. is against it; it ought to have followed διαγρ.; (2) by διαγρ. Gr. intended no reference to being found in Scripture ; he meant, if conscious of the metaphor at all, an erasure from the theological writings in which the expressions occurred.

9. 8. τῶν ὀνομάτων] sc. ἀγέννητον, ἄναρχον.

10. 3 μετ’ ἐμὲ] μετ’ ἐμοῦ a || ΙΙ σύνθετον] σύνθετος b || 12 ἐμπληξίας ποτε df || 15 ματαιότης] ἀνταπόδοσις ‘Reg. Cypr.’

11. 1. ἢ δῆλον] The ellipsis is, (Have you any other interpretation) or is it evident?

12. ib. ἐκ τῶν τ. σύναγ’.] Supply ἐστίν, or λαμβάνεται : ‘that they are deduced from passages which imply them.’

13. 2. ἐγώ εἰμι πρῶτος] Is. xliv 6.

14. 3. πρὸ ἐμοῦ] Is. xliii 10.

15. 4. ὅλον γὰρ τὸ ἐστιν ἐμόν] God is represented as still speaking ; ‘all that is included in the word Is is Mine, without beginning and without end.’

16. 5. ταῦτα λαβών] You have taken these facts, and have (rightly) deduced from them the appellations which you give to God, of ἀγέννητον, ἀθάνατον, and the rest.

17. 8. αἱ…πρῶται σῦς.] viz. things that are said and are not, and things that are and are not said.

18. 10. τὸ παρελθὸν ἔνεστ’.] ‘past is present.’

19. 12 ἐμπληξίας] ‘so daft.’

20. 13. ἀποφήνασθαι] ‘to declare his opinion that it is so.’ The ἢ mean ‘or at any rate.’

21. 14. θεός, ἄνθρ., κτλ.] Gr. first names four substantives, and then certain propositions ; ‘such syllo- gisms are vanity, and a of faith, and an emptying of the mystery? See 1 Cor. i 17 foll.

22. 24. This being so, we must not make too much of the reticence Scripture. When you hear of twice five, you are justified in saying ten ; so whatever is clearly implied in Scripture may rightly be affirmed, even if it is not explicitly stated there. I will give you the reason for the reticence of Scripture.