Gregory of Nyssa on perfection

Gregory of Nyssa lived from 335-394 A.D. He was one of the "Cappadocian Fathers" of the late fourth century, who helped to work out orthodox teaching around the doctrine of the Trinity. The other Cappadocians were Gregory's brother, Basil of Caesarea, and their friend, Gregory of Nazianzus. They are called "Cappadocians" because they came from the region of modern-day Turkey that was then known as Cappadocia.

The theology of Gregory can be found in a number of different forms: From sermons like his Homilies on the Beatitudes, to partially biographical reflections like the Life of Macrina, to moral treatises such as On Perfection, to more mystical writings such as the Life of Moses.

Two things always strike me when I read Gregory. One is the deeply biblical contours of his theology, which are influenced strongly by philosophy but nevertheless seek consistently to explain the word of God in Scripture.

And the other thing that strikes me about Gregory's writing is its profoundly hopeful character. He is one of the early teachers of a doctrine of Christian perfection, and in that he shares a common theological concern with John Wesley. For Gregory, the idea of perfection - that we can be made progressively complete in Jesus Christ - determines the shape of the Christian life in the present. I am going to offer a brief excerpt from his work, On Perfection, below. I'll preface it with two Scripture passages from the Apostle Paul that he cites in the section I am quoting. Gregory's thoughts are beautiful, and he renders them in beautiful writing as well.


"He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent."

- Colossians 1:17-18 (RSV)

"May the God of peace sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, and he will do it."

- 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (RSV)

Now here are two short passages from On Perfection --

"If someone defines the beginning as life, what comes afterwards will also be considered life. And if the beginning is light, what comes after the beginning will also be considered light. But what benefit do we derive from believing that He is the beginning? We become ourselves what we believe our beginning to be. For the beginning of darkness is not called the light, nor do we consider death a continuation of what is referred to as the beginning of life. But, unless a person is of the same nature as what produced him - that is, connected with the beginning through innocence and virtue - the One who is the 'beginning' of being would not be his beginning."

"This, therefore, is perfection in the Christian life in my judgment, namely, the participation of one's soul and speech and activities in all of the names by which Christ is signified, so that the perfect holiness, according to the eulogy of Paul, is taken upon oneself in 'the whole body and soul and spirit,' continuously safeguarded against being mixed with evil ... For this is truly perfection: never to stop growing towards what is better and never placing any limit on perfection."

- Gregory of Nyssa, "On Perfection"