Death in Platonism and in Gregory's System.
Plotinus also summons man to silence and isolation, to
retirement and hesychia. Like Plato, he conceives of philosophy as an exercise
in preparation for death. Gregory frequently paraphrases, and once directly
quotes, the maxim from Plato's Phaedo that "the task of a philosopher is
to release the soul from the body." For him true life is contained in the
process of dying because in this world it is impossible to attain full
similarity to God or complete communion with Him. Only infrequent and scattered
rays from the realm of Light can reach us here. Gregory often approaches Plato
by calling the body a prison.
It seems that Gregory consciously incorporates many elements of
Platonism in his own philosophy. He sees nothing surprising or misleading in the
fact that Hellenic philosophers were able to develop the technique of ascetic
discipline or that they were aware of the natural processes of thought and the
natural laws of the soul. By using the imagery of the Hellenic philosophers in
his religious writings Gregory is simply speaking in the language of his time.
Essentially, however, his ideals do not coincide with theirs. Plato and his
followers were seeking knowledge but had no key, whereas Gregory's striving is
guided by the image of Christ and the doctrine of the consubstantiality of the
Trinity. His yearning for death and the liberation of the soul from the body ("a
ruinous bond," he cries in a moment of despair) have nothing in common with the
spiritualism of the classical philosophers. For Gregory the body, like the
intellect, is deified when the Word of God assumes flesh. "If you have a poor
opinion of mankind, let me remind you that you are the creation of Christ, and
the breath of Christ, and a true part of Christ. You are both heavenly and
earthly. You are a creation worthy of eternity. You have been created a god and
through Christ's suffering you are going forward to unending glory."
Although it is necessary to renounce earthly things in this
life and "not to have excessive love for our present state," there will come a
time when the flesh will be resurrected. At the funeral of his brother Gregory
said: "The words of wise men have convinced me that every good soul which is
loved by God will, as soon as it is set free from the bonds of the body, depart
from here, and it will immediately be able to perceive and contemplate the
blessings that await it. As soon as that which has darkened it is purified or
laid aside (I do not know how else to describe it), the soul feels a wonderful
pleasure, rejoices, and gladly goes to meet its Lord. This is because it has
escaped life on earth, which is an unbearable prison, and has thrown off the
fetters which restrained it, keeping the mind on material things and holding
down the wings of the intellect. Then the soul will see and reap the blessings
that have been prepared for it."
Later the soul will receive the flesh that has been made suit
able for it, with which it once shared its pursuit of wisdom here on earth. This
it receives from the earth, which originally gave it flesh and then preserved
the flesh. Then in a way which is incomprehensible to us and known only to God,
who joined them together and then separated them, the soul will take the flesh
with it to receive its inheritance of coming glory. In the same way that the
soul through its close union with the flesh shared in its hardships, so now the
soul gives to the flesh its joys, gathering it up completely within itself and,
after the mortal and mutable part of it is swallowed up by life, becoming one
with it in spirit, in mind, and in God."
This hope is the reason for renouncing material things here in
this life. "Why should I cling to things that are temporal?' Gregory exclaims.
"I await the voice of the Archangel, the final trumpet, the transformation of
heaven and earth, the liberation of the elements and the renewal of the entire
world." The goal of Gregory's ascetic discipline is the purification of the
flesh, not liberation from it. "I love it as one who serves me, and I do not
turn from it as though it were an enemy. I flee from it as I would from a
prison, but I respect it as my coheir."
Thanks to and source:
No comments:
Post a Comment