Praise of a Teacher

Καὶ μὴ τοῦθ, ὃπερ εἶδος διαλεκτικὴ κατορθοῦν μόνη εἲληχε· τὸ δέ γε πάλιν ταπεινὸν τῆς ψυχῆς ἡμῶν, ἐκτεθαμβημένων μὲν τῇ μεγαλογιᾳ καὶ θαυματουργιᾳ καὶ ποικίλῃ και πανσόφῳ δημιουργιᾳ τῇ τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ τεθαυμακότων μὲν ἀλόγως ὑπεπτηχότων δὲ ὑπὸ ἐκπλήξεως, εἰδότων δὲ οὐδ᾽ ὁτιοῦν ἐπιλογίσασθαι δίκην ἀλογων ζώων, ἐξεγείρων καὶ ἀνορθῶν μαθήμασιν ἑτέροις, τοῖς φυσικοῖς, σαφηνίζων ἕκαστα τῶν ὄντων, καὶ διακρίνων καὶ μάλα σοφῶς εἰς τὰ πρώτιστα στοιχεῖα, κᾳτ᾽ ἐπιπλέκων τῷ λόγῳ καὶ ἐπιπορευόμενος τήν τε τῶν ὅλων καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ μέρους ἑκάστου φύσιν τροπήν τε τὴν πολυειδῆ καὶ μεταβολὴν τῶν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ· ἓως φέρων ὑπὸ σαφοῦς τῆς παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ διδασκαλίας, καὶ λόγων, ὦν τε ἔμαθεν ὦν τε ἐξεύρετο περὶ τῆς τῶν ὅλων οἰκονομίας τῆς ἱερᾶς καὶ φύσεως τῆς ἀμωμήτου, ἀντὶ ἀλόγου λογικὸν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἡμῶν ἐγκατέθετο θαῦμα. τοῦθ᾽ δ᾽ δὴ μάθημα ὑψηλον καὶ ἔνθεον ὄν ἡ ἐρασμιωτάτη πᾶσιν έκδιδάσκει φυσιολογία. τί δεὶ λέγειν τὰ τῶν ἱερῶν μαθημάτων, γεωμετρὶαν μὲν τὴν πὰσι φὶλην καὶ ἀναμφισβήτητον καὶ ἀστρονομίαν τὴν μετεωροπόρον; ἃ δὴ ἓλαστα ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἡμῶν ἐνετυποῦτο διδάσκων ἢ ἀναμιμνήσκων ἢ οὐκ οἰδ᾽ ὁ τι χρὴ λὲγειν, τὴν μὲν ὡς ὑποβαθραν πάντων ἁπλῶς ποιησάμενος οὐσαν ἄσειστον, τὴν γεωμετρίαν, καὶ κρηπὶδα τινὰ ἀσφαλῆ· ἀνάγων δὲ καὶ μέχρι τῶν ἀνωτάτω διὰ τῆς ἀστρονομίας, ὥσπερ διὰ κλίμακός τινος οὐρανμήκους ἑκατέρου τοῦ μαθήματος βατὸν ἡμῖν τὸν οὐρανὸν παρασκευάσας.  Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος ὁ θαυματουργός, Εἰς Ὀριγένην Προσφώνητικος

Nor did he share merely the discipline of dialectics; but even the lowness of mind which is amazed at the magnitude, the wondrousness, and the magnificent and absolutely wise construction of the world, for our marveling in a reasonless way, and our being overpowered with fear, and our knowing not, like the irrational creatures, what conclusion to come to, that, too, he stimulated and corrected by other studies of nature, illuminating each thing, and with acute sagacity analysing them to their primary elements, taking them up in discourse, and going over the the whole and the parts of each, and the way of diverse changes in the world, until he carried us along with him under his clear teaching; and by those reasonings which he had partly learned from others, and partly discovered himself, he placed in our minds a rational instead of an irrational wonder at the sacred economy of the universe and its flawless nature. This is that sublime and heavenly study taught by natural philosophy, beautiful to all. What need is there now to speak of the sacred mathematics geometry, so precious to all and above all dispute, and astronomy, the ways of the heavens? These different studies he imprinted on our souls, training us in them, or recalling them into us, or doing something else which I know not how to tell; and the one he made plain as the unshakable foundation of all, namely geometry, and by astronomy he lifted us up to things most high, as he made the heavens passable to us by equipping us with both of these studies, as though they were a ladder reaching the skies. Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus, Oration to Origen