The Only Enemy

Μίαν ἔχθραν ἐνομθέτησεν ἡμῖν ὁ τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν νομοθέτης, τὴν πρὸς τὸν ὄφιν λέγω· πρὸς οὐδὲν ἄλλο τὴν τοῦ μισεῖν δύναμιν ἐνεργεῖσθαι προστάξας, εἰ μὴ πρὸς τὴν ἀποστροφὴν τῆς κακίας. ' Ἔχθραν γὰρ θήσω, φησιν, 'ἀνὰ μέσον σοῦ, καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον ἐκείνου.' Ἐπειδὴ ποικίλη τος καὶ πολυειδής ἐστιν ἡ κακὶα, διὰ τοῦ ὄφεως ὁ λόγος ταύτην αἰνίττεται, τῇ πυκνῇ τῶν φολίδων θέσει τὸ πολύτροπον τῆς κακίας χαρακτηρίζων. Ἡμεῖς δὲ πρὸς μὲν τὸν ὄφιν ἔνσπονδοι, διὰ τοῦ τὰ θελήματα τοῦ ἀντικειμένου ποιεῖν, ἐγενόμεθα· τὸ δὲ μῖθος κατ' ἀλλήλων ἐτρέψαμεν· τάχα δὲ οὐδε καθ' ἡμῶν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τοῦ τὴν ἐντολὴν δεδωκότος. Ὁ μὲν γάρ φησιν, ' Ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου, καὶ μισήσεις τὸν ἐχθρόν σου· τὸν τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν πολέμιον μόνον ἐχθρὸν ἡγεῖσθαι προστάξας· πάντα δὲ τὸν κοινωνοῦντα τῆς φύσεως, πλησίον ἐκάστου εἴναι εἰπών· ἡ δὲ βαρυκάρδιος ἡμῶν γενεὰ τοῦ πλησίον ἡμᾶς διαστήσασα, θάλπειν τὸν ὄφιν ἐποίησε, καὶ τοῖς τῶν φολίδων αὐτοῦ στίγμασιν ἐπιτέρπεσθαι.   Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης, Ἐπιστολὴ Γ', Ευσταθίᾳ καὶ Ἀμβροσίᾳ καὶ τῇ κοσμιωτάτῃ καὶ σεμνοτάτῃ θυγατρὶ βασιλίσσῃ

One hatred the Lawgiver of our life has commanded us. I speak of the Serpent. For nothing else has He enjoined us to employ this ability of hatred but as a defence against wickedness. He says 'I will put hate between you and him.'1 Since wickedness is a diverse and varied thing, the Word speaks it as a serpent, the dense array of whose scales represents the manifold nature of evil. And we make alliance with the serpent by working the will of our enemy, and so turn the hatred against one another, and perhaps not among ourselves only, but against Him Who gave the commandment, for He says, 'You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy,' 2 enjoining us to mark the foe to our nature as our only enemy, and declaring that all sharing that humanity are neighbours of one another. But this heavy hearted generation has separated us from our neighbour, has made us embrace the serpent, and take delight in his spotted scales. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Letter 3, To Eustathia and Ambrosia and the most discreet and noble daughter Basilissa 1 Gen 3.15  2 Mt 5.43