The Good Of The Mourners

Τί τοίνυν ἐστὶ τὸ λεγόμενον, Μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ παρακληθήσονται; Γελάσει πάντως ὁ πρὸς τὸν κόσμον βλέπων, καὶ λέξει ταῦτα καταχλευά ζων τὸν Λόγον·  Εἰ μακαρίζονται κατὰ τὸν βίον οἱ ἐν πάσῃ συμφορᾷ δαπανώμενοι, ἄθλιοι κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθόν εἰσι πάντως οἷς ἄλυπός τε καὶ ἀπήμων ἐστὶν ἡ ζωή. Καὶ οὕτω τὰ εἴδη τῶν συμφορῶν ἐξαριθμού μενος, πλεονάσει τὸν γέλωτα, τὰ τῆς χηρείας κακὰ, καὶ τὴν τῆς ὀρφανίας ταλαιπωρίαν ὑπ' ὄψιν ἄγων, τὰς ζημίας, τὰ ναυάγια, τὰς ἐκ πολέμων αἰχμαλω σίας, τὰς ἀδίκους ἐν δικαστηρίῳ κρίσεις, μεθορι σμούς τε καὶ δημεύσεις καὶ ἀτιμίας, τάς τε συμφορὰς τὰς ἐκ τῶν νόσων, οἷον πηρώσεις τε καὶ ἀκρωτη ριασμοὺς, καὶ τὴν παντοδαπὴν τοῦ σώματος λώβην, καὶ εἴ τι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις κατὰ τὸν βίον τοῦτον συν ίσταται πάθος, ἢ σώματος, ἢ ψυχῆς ἁπτόμενον, πάντα τῷ λόγῳ διεξελεύσεται, δι' ὧν, ὡς οἴεται, καταγέ λαστον ἀποδείξει τὸν τοὺς πενθοῦντας μακαρίζοντα λόγον. Ἡμεῖς δὲ μικρὰ φροντίσαντες τῶν μικροψύχως τε καὶ ταπεινῶς ἀναθεωρούντων τὰ θεῖα νοήματα, ὡς ἔστι δυνατὸν κατιδεῖν τὸν ἐγκείμενον τῷ εἰρημένῳ διὰ βάθους πλοῦτον ἐπιχειρήσωμεν, ὅπως ἂν φανερὸν καὶ διὰ τοῦτο γένοιτο, πόσον ἐστὶ τὸ διάφορον τῆς σαρκίνης τε καὶ χοϊκῆς διανοίας, πρὸς τὴν ὑψηλήν τε καὶ ἐπουράνιον. Ἔστι μὲν οὖν ἐκ τοῦ προχείρου μακαριστὸν ὑπο λαβεῖν ἐκεῖνο τὸ πένθος, τὸ ἐπὶ πλημμελήμασι καὶ ἁμαρτίαις γινόμενον, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Παύλου περὶ τῆς λύπης διδασκαλίαν, τοῦ φήσαντος, μὴ ἒν εἶναι λύπης εἶδος, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν κοσμικὸν, τὸ δὲ κατὰ Θεὸν ἐνερ γούμενον. Καὶ τῆς μὲν κοσμικῆς λύπης, θάνατον εἶναι τὸ ἔργον· τὴν δὲ ἑτέραν, σωτηρίαν ἐκ μετα νοίας τοῖς λυπουμένοις ἐργάζεσθαι. Τῷ ὄντι γὰρ οὐκ ἔξω τοῦ μακαρίζεσθαι τὸ τοιοῦτον τῆς ψυχῆς πάθος ἐστὶν, ὅταν ἐν αἰσθήσει γενομένη τοῦ χείρονος, τὸν ἐν κακίᾳ βίον ἀπολοφύρηται. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν σωματικῶν ἀῤῥωστημάτων, οἷς ἂν πάρετον ἐξ ἐπηρείας τινὸς γένηταί τι μέρος τοῦ σώματος, σημεῖον τοῦ νενεκρῶσθαι τὸ παρειμένον ἡ ἀναλγησία γίνεται· εἰ δὲ κατά τινα τέχνην ἰατρικὴν ἡ ζωτικὴ πάλιν αἴσθησις ἐπαναχθείη τῷ σώματι, χαίρουσιν ἤδη πονοῦντος τοῦ μέρους, αὐτός τε ὁ κάμνων καὶ οἱ τὴν θεραπείαν προσάγοντες, τεκμηρίῳ χρώμενοι τοῦ πρὸς ὑγίειαν τρέψαι τὸ πάθος, τὸ ἐν αἰσθήσει τῶν δριμυσσόντων ἤδη γενέσθαι τὸ μέλος· οὕτως ἐπειδὰν, καθώς φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, ἀπηλγηκότες τινὲς παρα δῶσι τῷ καθ' ἁμαρτίαν βίῳ ἑαυτοὺς, νεκροί τινες ὄντως καὶ πάρετοι τοῦ κατ' ἀρετὴν βίου γενόμενοι, οὐδεμίαν ἔχουσιν ὧν ποιοῦσιν τὴν αἴσθησιν. Εἰ δὲ καθάψαιτό τις αὐτῶν ὁ ἰατρεύων λόγος, οἷον διά τινων θερμῶν τε καὶ διακαιόντων φαρμάκων, λέγω δὲ τῶν σκυθρωπῶν τῆς μελλούσης κρίσεως ἀπειλῶν, καὶ διὰ βάθους τὴν καρδίαν τῷ φόβῳ τῶν προσδοκωμένων δριμύξειεν, γεέννης φόβον, καὶ πῦρ μὴ σβεννύμενον, καὶ ἀτελεύτητον σκώληκα, καὶ βρυγμὸν ὀδόντων, καὶ κλαυθμὸν ἀδιάλειπτον, καὶ σκότος ἐξώτερον, καὶ ἅπαντα τὰ τοιαῦτα, οἷόν τινα θερμὰ καὶ δριμέα φάρμακα τῷ νεναρκηκότι διὰ τῶν καθ' ἡδονὴν παθημάτων ἐντρίβων καὶ ἀναθάλπων, εἰς αἴσθησιν αὐτὸν ἀγάγοι τοῦ ἐν ᾧ ἦν βίου, μακαριστὸν αὐτὸν ἀπεργάσηται, τὴν ὀδυνηρὰν αἴσθησιν τῇ ψυχῇ ἐμ ποιήσας. Καθάπερ καὶ ὁ Παῦλος τὸν τῇ κοίτῃ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐπιλυσσήσαντα, μέχρις ἐκείνου μαστίζει τῷ λόγῳ, ἕως ἂν ἀναισθήτως εἶχεν τῆς ἁμαρτίας· ἐπεὶ δὲ καθίκετο τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἡ τῆς ἐπιπλήξεως ἰατρεία, ὡς ἤδη μακάριον διὰ τοῦ πένθους γενόμενον, παρα καλεῖν ἄρχεται, ἵνα μὴ τῇ περισσοτέρᾳ λύπῃ, φησὶ, καταποθῇ ὁ τοιοῦτος. Ἔστω δὲ καὶ τοῦτο ἡμῖν τὸ νόημα πρὸς τὴν προκειμένην τοῦ μακαρισμοῦ θεωρίαν εἰς τὸν κατ' ἀρετὴν βίον οὐκ ἄχρηστον, διὰ τὸ πλεονάζειν πως ἐν τῇ φύσει τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν·ταύτης δὲ φάρμακον τὸ ἐκ μετανοίας πένθος ἀποδέδεικται. Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης, Εἰς Τους Μακαρισμους, Λογος Γ'

Why then is it said, 'Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted'? 1 Certainly a man may laugh when looking to the world and say in mocking tones to this statement of the Word: 'If they are blessed who are oppressed with every sort of calamity, then  they must be wretched whose lives are free of trouble and harm.' And so he enumerates the types of calamities, laughing as he adds to them and heaps them up, bringing the inconveniences of widowhood and the wretchedness of orphans before the eyes, and wounds, shipwrecks, captives in war, victims of unjust courts, exile and loss of property, disgrace, infamy, the pains born of diseases, blindness and loss of limbs, the various faults and defects of the body, and whatever comes to men to trouble them in this life, striking at either body or soul, in his speech he lists all these things, by which, in his opinion, it seems ridiculous to say that those who mourn are to be adjudged blessed. We, however, with the little thoughts of a meek of soul shall humbly try to contemplate things Divine, and, as much as we are able, see what lies wrapped up in the enquiry and grasp the deep wealth within, that thus overt may be the difference between the corporeal and worldly understanding and the sublime and heavenly. And at first thought one is able to grasp that the mourner is blessed who takes note of his sins and errors, according to the teaching of Paul concerning grief, when he says that there is not just one type of grief, but one of the world and another of God. 2 And the grief of the world is the work of death and the other works through penance to make amendment of defects. For truly he is not able to be judged blessed who is much troubled in his soul, he who when noting that which is wrong, bewails a defective life. For it as in sick body which in a part has suffered a putrefying wound by some violence, and immobility is added, the part being rotten and languid, but if the art of medicine restores the power of life to the affected region, that very thing that troubled, improved by treatments, now useful again as sickness turns to health, the limb that gave pain returning to sense, so that part turns from grief to joy. And this knowing, the Apostle says that it has given life to sinners, when by virtue what was dead and rotting, nothing of it having any sense, attains life. And if someone with the healing art produce response as happens with hot burning medicines, and I speak here of the future fearful judgements and the expectant heart pierced deep with fear, the terrors of hell, unquenchable fires, worms ever eating, grinding of teeth, endless weeping, and exterior darkness, these hot and bitter medicines being rubbed into the area suffering on account of excess of pleasure, warm it and sense is restored as it comes back to life, and then blessed he is made whom grief has brought sense into the soul. As was even Paul who from the bed of his fathers was released having been struck with the word until he had sense of sin. And it as a physician admonishing a man, that through suffering he shall be happy, so encouraging him to begin lest by excessive worry he refuse treatment. This then is our thought on this proposition of blessedness, seeing in it that virtue is not useless for life, that through excess in human nature comes sin, and showing that repentance is grief. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, On The Beatitudes, Chapter 3 1 Mt 5.5 2 2 Cor 7.10