Different Teaching

Οἱ μὲν γὰρ δέονται γάλακτι τρέφεσθαι, τοῖς ἁπλουστέροις καὶ στοιχειωδεστέροις τῶν διδαγμάτων, ὅσοι τὴν ἕξιν νήπιοι καὶ ἀρτιπαγεῖς, ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις, τὴν ἀνδρείαν τοῦ λόγου τροφὴν οὐ φέροντες· ἣν εἰ προσάγοι τις παρὰ δύναμιν, τάχα ἂν καταπιεσθέντες καὶ βαρηθέντες, οὐχ ἐξαρχούσης τῆς διανοίας, ὥσπερ ἐχεῖ τῆς ὕλης τὸ ἐπεισελθὸν ἑλχῦσαι καὶ οἰχειώσασθα!, ζημιωθεῖεν ἂν καὶ εἰς τὴν ἀρχαίαν δύναμιν· οἱ δὲ τῆς ἐν τοῖς τελείοις λαλουμένης σοφίας χρήζοντες “ἧς ὑψηλοτέρας καὶ στεῤῥυτέρας, τῷ πρὸς διάχρὶσιν ἀληθοῦς τε καὶ ψευδοῦς; ἱχανῶ: γεγυμνάσθαι τὰ αἰσθητήρια, εἰ γάλα ποτίξοιντο καὶ τρέφοιντο λαχάνοις, ἀσθενῶν βρώματι, δυσχεραίνοιεν ἄν" καὶ μάλα εἰχότως, οὐ δυναμούμενοι κατὰ Χριστὸν, οὐδὲ αὔξοντες τὴν ἐπαινετὴν αὔξησιν, ἣν ἐργάζεται λόγος τελειῶν εἰς ἄνδρα, καὶ εἰς μέτρον ἡλιχίας ἄγων πνευματιχῆς, τὸν καλῶς τρεφόμενον. αὶ πρὸς ταῦτα τίς ἱκαγός; Οὐ γάρ ἔσμεν ὡς οἱ πολλοὶ χαπηλεύειν δυνάμενοι τὸν λόγον τῆς ἀληθείας, καὶ ἀναμιγνύναι τὸν οἶνον ὕδατ· τὸν εὐφραίνοντα καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου λόγον τῷ πολλῷ καὶ εὐώνῳ καὶ χαμαὶ συρομένῳ καὶ ἐξιτήλῳ καὶ εἰχῆ ῥέοντι, ὥστε αὐτοί τι παραχερδαίνειν ἐκ τῆς καπηλείας, ἄλλὸ τε ἄλλως ὁμιλοῦντες τοῖς πλησιάζουσι καὶ πᾶσι πρὸς χάριν· ἐγγαστρίμυθοί τινες ὄντες καὶ κενολύγοι, τὰς ἑαυτῶν ἡδονὰς θεραπεύοντες λόγοις ἐκ γῆς φωνουμένοις καὶ δυομένοις εῑς γῆν· ὡς ἂν μάλιστα εὐδοκιμοῖμεν τοῖς πολλοῖς, ὅτι μάλιστα ζημιοῦντες αὐτοὺς. ἃ ἀπολλύντες, καὶ αἷμα ἀθῶον ἁπλουστέρων ψυχῶν ἐκχέοντες ἐχ τῶν χειρῶν ἡμῶν ἐκζητηθησόμενον. Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος ὁ Ναζιανζηνός, Λόγος B' Source: Migne PG 35.453c-456a

For some need to be fed with the milk of the simplest and most elementary teachings, those who are in an infant state and, so to say, new-made, and unable to bear the adult food of the word, for if it were to be presented to them beyond their strength, they would likely be overwhelmed and burdened owing to an immaturity of the mind, as happens with the digestion and assimilation of material bodies, and it may even be to the harm of their original power. Others are in need of the wisdom which is spoken among the perfect, 1 and the higher and more solid food, since their senses have been sufficiently exercised to discern the true and the false, 2 and therefore if they are given milk to drink and the diet of invalids, 3 they will be upset, and indeed rightly, for they will not be strengthened according to Christ, nor make that laudable increase which the Word works for the perfecting of men, bringing a man to the measure of spiritual stature with correct nourishment. 4 And who is capable in these things? For we are not, as the many, able to corrupt the word of truth, and mix in water with the wine which gladdens the heart of man, 5 that is, with much that is common and vile and and debased, and of the serpent's earth, all transient and vainly passing away, like some shopkeeper, so that he may profit himself by it, and that we may in some way accommodate ourselves to those we meet, gaining the assent of everyone, as ventriloquists and chatterers do, who serve their own pleasures by words uttered from the earth, and who sink into the earth, so that they may gain the greatest glory and a celebrated name among the multitude, while utterly injuring and indeed ruining ourselves, and shedding the innocent blood of simpler souls, which will be required at our hands. Saint Gregory Nazianzus, from the Second Oration 1 Cor 2.6 2 Heb 5.14 3 Rom 14.2 4 Ephes 4.13 5 2 Cor 2 16-17, Isaiah 1.22, Ps 103.15