Dirge , St. Gregory The Theologian

St. Gregory The Theologian

January 25th

The main message of Gregory’s poetry is the trust in God. It is in his poems and in his letters that we discover the human face of Gregory. Besides the saintly side of him: contemplation, ascetic endeavor, prayer, fasting, deprivations, here we see the common person that he was, very similar to us, with all his pains, doubts, problems, depressions, suffering, struggle…Gregory writes: “It is terrible when love is combined with power”He tells us that “we ought to think of God more often than we draw our breath” since prayer is the encounter of the thirst of God with our thirst. God thirsts that we thirst for him

Dirge

Woe is me! Just now that I press forward

to Heaven, to the place of God, alas!

This body of mine encompasseth me.

Neither is there an end to this much-erring life,

nor yet to loathsome evil, which bindeth me fast

here below, and woundeth me from every side,

smiting me with unexpected cares that consume

the beauty and grace of my soul.

Nonetheless, O my God, King of all,

loose me swiftly from these earthly fetters,

and enroll me henceforth in the celestial choirs.

Source: Our Father among the Saints Gregory of Nazianzos, the Theologian: Selected verses from his poetry.[The original poems are found in Patrologia Græca, Vol. XXXVII, cols. 1399A-1401A (Poem LV); cols. 1384A-1385A (Poem XLIX) — trans.]

https://theodordamian.wordpress.com/english-pages/%E2%80%9Egregory-of-nazianzus%E2%80%99-poetry-and-his-human-face-in-it%E2%80%9C/

Apolytikion St. Gregory the Theologian. First Tone

The pastoral flute of your theology conquered the trumpets of orators. For it called upon the depths of the Spirit and you were enriched with the beauty of words. Intercede to Christ our God, O Father Gregory, that our souls may be saved.

https://iconandlight.wordpress.com/2015/01/23/dirge-st-gregory-the-theologian/