Suffering and Salvation

Τοιοῦτον εἶναί μοι φαίνεται καὶ τό· Ὁ θεός, ὁ θεός μου, πρόσχες μοι, ἵνα τί ἐγκατέλιπές με; οὐ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἐγκαταλέλειπται, ἢ ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός, ἢ ὑπὸ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ θεότητος, ὃ δοκεῖ τισίν, ὡς ἂν φοβουμένης τὸ πάθος, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο συστελλομένης ἀπὸ τοῦ πάσχοντος. Τίς γὰρ ἢ γεννηθῆναι κάτω τὴν ἀρχήν, ἢ ἐπὶ τὸν σταυρὸν ἀνελθεῖν ἠνάγκασεν; ἐν ἑαυτῷ δέ, ὅπερ εἶπον, τυποῖ τὸ ἡμέτερον. Ἡμεῖς γὰρ ἦμεν οἱ ἐγκαταλελειμμένοι καὶ παρεωραμένοι πρότερον, εἶτα νῦν προσειλημμένοι καὶ σεσωσμένοι τοῖς τοῦ ἀπαθοῦς πάθεσιν· ὥσπερ καὶ τὴν ἀφροσύνην ἡμῶν καὶ τὸ πλημμελὲς οἰκειούμενος τὰ ἑξῆς διὰ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ φησίν· ἐπειδὴ προδήλως εἰς Χριστὸν ὁ εἰκοστὸς πρῶτος ψαλμὸς ἀναφέρεται. Τῆς δὲ αὐτῆς ἔχεται θεωρίας καὶ τὸ μαθεῖν αὐτὸν τὴν ὑπακοὴν ἐξ ὧν ἔπαθεν, ἥ τε κραυγή, καὶ τὰ δάκρυα, καὶ τὸ ἱκετεῦσαι, καὶ τὸ εἰσακουσθῆναι, καὶ τὸ εὐλαβές. ἃ δραματουργεῖται καὶ πλέκεται θαυμασίως ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν. Ὡς μὲν γὰρ λόγος, οὔτε ὑπήκοος ἦν, οὔτε ἀνήκοος. Τῶν γὰρ ὑπὸ χεῖρα ταῦτα, καὶ τῶν δευτέρων, τὸ μὲν τῶν εὐγνωμονεστέρων, τὸ δὲ τῶν ἀξίων κολάσεως. Ὡς δὲ δούλου μορφή, συγκαταβαίνει τοῖς ὁμοδούλοις καὶ δούλοις, καὶ μορφοῦται τὸ ἀλλότριον, ὅλον ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἐμὲ φέρων μετὰ τῶν ἐμῶν, ἵνα ἐν ἑαυτῷ δαπανήσῃ τὸ χεῖρον, ὡς κηρὸν πῦρ, ἢ ὡς ἀτμίδα γῆς ἥλιος, κἀγὼ μεταλάβω τῶν ἐκείνου διὰ τὴν σύγκρασιν. Διὰ τοῦτο ἔργῳ τιμᾷ τὴν ὑπακοήν, καὶ πειρᾶται ταύτης ἐκ τοῦ παθεῖν. Οὐ γὰρ ἱκανὸν ἡ διάθεσις, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ ἡμῖν, εἰ μὴ καὶ διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων χωρήσαιμεν. Ἔργον γὰρ ἀπόδειξις διαθέσεως. Οὐ χεῖρον δὲ ἴσως κἀκεῖνο ὑπολαβεῖν, ὅτι δοκιμάζει τὴν ἡμετέραν ὑπακοήν, καὶ πάντα μετρεῖ τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ πάθεσι τέχνῃ φιλανθρωπίας, ὥστε ἔχειν εἰδέναι τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ τὰ ἡμέτερα, καὶ πόσον μὲν ἀπαιτούμεθα, πόσον δὲ συγχωρούμεθα, λογιζομένης μετὰ τοῦ πάσχειν καὶ τῆς ἀσθενείας. Εἰ γὰρ τὸ φῶς ἐδιώχθη διὰ τὸ πρόβλημα, φαῖνον ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ, τῷ βίῳ τούτῳ, ὑπὸ τῆς ἄλλης σκοτίας, τοῦ πονηροῦ λέγω καὶ τοῦ πειραστοῦ, τὸ σκότος πόσον, ὡς ἀσθενέστερον; καὶ τί θαυμαστόν, Εἰ ἐκείνου διαφυγόντος παντάπασιν ἡμεῖς ποσῶς καὶ καταληφθείημεν; μεῖζον γὰρ ἐκείνῳ τὸ διωχθῆναι, ἤπερ ἡμῖν τὸ καταληφθῆναι. Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος ὁ Ναζιανζηνός, Λόγος Λ'

Of the same kind, it appears to me, is: 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?' 1 For it was not that He was forsaken either by the Father, or by His own Godhead, as it seems to some, as if fearing the Passion it thus withdrew Itself from the suffering. For who forced Him either to be born at the beginning, or to be lifted up on the Cross? But He, as I said, was representing us. For we were the forsaken and despised, but now taken up and saved by the suffering of Him who could not suffer, as even He takes possession of our folly and our transgressions, and says what follows in the Psalm, for it is evident that the twenty first Psalm refers to Christ. And the same insight holds regarding His learning obedience by what He suffered, and the cry, and the tears, and the prayers, and His being heard, and reverence. All of this He wonderfully devised like a drama for us. For as the Word He was neither obedient nor disobedient. For such things are for servants and inferiors, and the first applies to the better sort, while the other to those who deserve punishment. But in the form of a Servant He condescends to His fellow servants and servants and receives strange form, in Himself bearing all me and mine, that in Himself He may exhaust the bad, as fire devours wax, or as sun the mists of earth, and that I may partake of His nature by the blending. Thus He honours obedience by His action and proves it by His Passion. For the disposition is not enough, just as it is for us, unless proved by acts. Action is the demonstration of disposition. And perhaps it would not be a fault to propose this also, that He tests our obedience, and measures all by comparison with His own Sufferings for the love of man, so that He may know ours by His own, and how much is required of us, and how much we yield, considering our sufferings and our weakness also. For if the Light passing through a screen, shining in darkness, in this life, was persecuted by the other darkness, the Evil One, I mean, and the Tempter, how much more will the darkness be so, being weaker? And what marvel is it, that though He entirely escaped, we have been, to a certain extent, overtaken? For it is greater wonder He should have been beset, than that we should have been captured. Saint Gregory Nazianzus, from Oration 30 1 Ps 21.2