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- Title
The Normativity of Measure in Gregory Nazianzus' and Gregory of Nyssa's Orations on Love for the Destitute Poor.
- Authors
Tobon, Monica
- Abstract
Gregory Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa between them composed three orations On love for the destitute poor which highlight the pre-eminence for Christians of practical charity, situate lepers as its most deserving recipients, and argue that to minister to the poor is to minster to Christ himself. This paper focuses on their use of categories from Plato's Gorgias to analyse social inequity in terms of the pursuit of excess associated with the appetites and its remedy in restoring measure and balance associated with logos, appropriated by the Gregories to the Christian Logos such that the pursuit or tolerance of excess, or of its concomitants deficiency and imbalance, is shown to be incompatible with Christian faith. While the Gregories' core argument is the same, their approaches differ, Gregory of Nyssa's being more explicitly ascetic. After outlining the late antique notion of the πτωχοί and the salient aspects of Plato's Gorgias, I turn to the three orations, focusing on how they appeal to excess, measure, and balance in diagnosing soul sickness and prescribing its remedy. I conclude by discussing their anticipation of Pope Francis' call to "go forth to the peripheries", considering who the figure of the leper symbolises for us today and, implicitly, for the Gregories, and how this discussion can illuminate the apparent contrast between Nazianzen's and Nyssen's views of institutional care for lepers.
- Subjects
GREGORY, of Nazianzus, Saint; LOVE in Christianity; BIBLICAL teaching on faith; ASCETICS; RELIGIOUS groups
- Publication
Vox Patrum, 2021, Issue 78, p239
- ISSN
0860-9411
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.31743/vp.12267