Creation, Freedom and Virtue

Θεὸς τῇ ἑαυτοῦ φύσει πᾶν ὅτι περ ἔστι κατ' ἔννοιαν λαβεῖν ἀγαθὸν, ἐκεῖνό ἐστι· μᾶλλον δὲ παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ τοῦ νοουμένου τε καὶ καταλαμβανομένου ἐπέκεινα ὢν, οὐ δι' ἄλλο τι κτίζει τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ζωὴν, ἣ διὰ τὸ ἀγαθὸς εἶναι. Τοιοῦτος δὲ ὢν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πρὸς τὴν δημιουργίαν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως ὁρμήσας, οὐκ ἂν ἡμιτελῆ τὴν τῆς ἀγαθότητος ἐνεδείξατο δύνα μιν, τὸ μέν τι δοὺς ἐκ τῶν προσόντων αὐτῷ, τοῦ δὲ φθονήσας τῆς μετουσίας· ἀλλὰ τὸ τέλειον τῆς ἀγαθότητος εἶδος ἐν τούτῳ ἐστὶν, ἐκ τοῦ καὶ παραγαγεῖν τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος εἰς γένεσιν, καὶ ἀνεν δεῆ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀπεργάσασθαι. Ἐπεὶ δὲ πολὺς τῶν καθ' ἕκαστον ἀγαθῶν ὁ κατάλογος, οὐ μὲν οὖν ἔστιν ἀριθμῷ ῥᾳδίως τοῦτον διαλαβεῖν. Διὰ τοῦτο περι ληπτικῇ τῇ φωνῇ ἅπαντα συλλαβὼν ὁ λόγος ἐσήμα νεν, ἐν τῷ εἰπεῖν, κατ' εἰκόνα Θεοῦ γεγενῆσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον.Ἶσον γάρ ἐστι τοῦτο τῷ εἰπεῖν, ὅτι παν τὸῦ ἀγαθοῦ μέτοχον τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν ἐποίησεν. Εἰ γὰρ πλήρωμα μὲν ἀγαθῶν τὸ Θεῖον, ἐκείνου δὲ τοῦτο εἰκών· ἄρ' ἐν τῷ πλῆρες εἶναι παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ, πρὸς τὸ ἀρχέτυπον ἡ εἰκὼν ἔχει τὴν ὁμοιότητα. Οὐκοῦν ἐστιν ἐν ἡμῖν παντὸς μὲν καλοῦ ἰδέα, πᾶσα δὲ ἀρετὴ καὶ σοφία, καὶ πᾶν ὅτιπέρ ἐστι πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον νοούμενον.Ἓν δὲ τῶν πάντων καὶ τὸ ἐλεύθερον ἀνάγκης εἶναι, καὶ μὴ ὑπεζεῦχθαί τινι φυσικῇ δυναστείᾳ·ἀλλ' αὐτεξούσιον πρὸς τὸ δοκοῦν ἔχειν τὴν γνώμην. Ἀδέσποτον γάρ τι χρῆμα ἡ ἀρετὴ καὶ ἑκούσιον, τὸ δὲ κατηναγκασμένον καὶ βεβιασμένον ἀρετὴ εἶναι οὐ δύναται. Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης, Περὶ Κατασκευής Ἀνθρωπου

God in His own nature is all which our mind can conceive of good, or rather, He transcends all the good that we can think of or grasp with the mind, and He creates man for no other reason than that He is good. And being so, and having this as His reason for the creation of our nature, He would not show the power of His goodness in an imperfect manner, giving our nature one thing from Himself, and refusing it another, but the perfect form of goodness is here by Him both bringing forth man from nothing in the beginning and completing him with the goods required, but since the catalogue of individual goods is long, it is not feasible to list them, and therefore the voice of Scripture expresses it concisely by an all encompassing phrase, in saying that man was made in the image of God.1 For this is the same as saying that He made human nature participant in all good, for if the Deity is the plenitude of goods, and man is His image, then in being filled with all good the image has its likeness to the archetype. Thus there is in us the idea of all excellence, all virtue and wisdom, and every conceivable higher thing. But above all this is the fact that we are free from necessity, and not enslaved to any natural power, but we have autonomy in matters of judgement, for virtue is voluntary and not subject to another; that which comes about by compulsion and force is not able to be virtuous. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, On The Making of Man 1.Gen 1 . 27