Section CXCII

But now I come to the other Gregory, bishop of Nyssa, second to none in subtlety of genius, distinguished by the praises of Theodoret, Socrates, Photius, and others, and most illustrious for the victories won on behalf of the Catholic cause against Eunomius and Apollinaris. Now, when he weighs the words of the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done,” he speaks¹ precisely thus: Θέλημα δὲ Θεοῦ ἡ σωτηρία τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐστίν, “But the will of God is the salvation of men.” But of all, or only of some? And, if of all, with what sort of will does God desire and seek their salvation? With a sterile and unfruitful will, or rather an efficacious and active one? The testimonies which we shall adduce remove all difficulties.

Gregory, therefore, discoursing concerning the purpose for which the Canticle of Canticles was composed², says that through those things which are contained in this book the soul is in some fashion adorned as a bride for an incorporeal and spiritual conjunction with God, exempt from matter. Then immediately he adds³: “Ὁ γὰρ πάντας θέλων σωθῆναι, καὶ εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν, τὸν τελειότατον ἐνταῦθα καὶ μακάριον τῆς σωτηρίας ὑποδείκνυσι τρόπον, τὸν διὰ τῆς ἀγάπης λέγω. For he who wills all to be saved and to come to the acknowledgment of the truth here shows the most perfect and blessed manner of salvation, I mean that which comes through charity.”

For salvation is procured for some even διὰ φόβου, through fear, when, looking upon the threats of the punishment of Gehenna, τοῦ κακοῦ χωριζόμεθα, we separate ourselves from evil. There are also some οἳ καὶ διὰ τὴν ἀποκειμένην τοῖς εὐσεβῶς βεβιωκόσι τὸν μισθὸν ἐλπίδα τὴν ἀρετὴν κατορθοῦντες, οὐκ ἀγάπῃ τὸ ἀγαθόν, ἀλλὰ τῇ προσδοκίᾳ τῆς ἀμοιβῆς κατακτώμενοι, who, on account of the hope of the reward laid up for those who have lived piously, conduct themselves rightly and according to virtue, not possessing the good by charity but by the expectation of remuneration.

He persists in confirming these things⁴ when, explaining the words “Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth,” he says:

Since he who draws drink from a fountain must bring his mouth to the water—and the fountain is the Lord, who said⁵, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink”—therefore the soul wishes to bring its mouth to the mouth that gushes forth life, saying: “Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth.” Καὶ ὁ πᾶσι τὴν ζωὴν βρύων, καὶ πάντας σωθῆναι θέλων, οὐδένα βούλεται τῶν σωζομένων τοῦ τοιούτου φιλήματος εἶναι ἀμέτοχον· καθάρσιον γάρ ἐστι ῥύπου παντὸς τοῦτο τὸ φίλημα, and he who makes life gush forth for all and wills all to be saved wills none of those who are saved to be without a share in this kiss; for this kiss is the cleansing away of every stain.

The salvific will therefore a) proceeds from goodness, b) is universal, and, like an overflowing fountain, c) waters all with its waters, wipes them clean, and purifies them.

Wherefore Gregory refutes Apollinaris, who wrote concerning Christ that he indeed possessed equality of power with the Father, καὶ τὴν κατὰ σάρκα τῆς ἐνεργείας διαίρεσιν, καθ᾽ ἣν οὐ πάντας ἐζωοποίησεν, ἀλλά τινας, οὓς ἠθέλησεν, “and the distinction of operation according to the flesh, by which he did not vivify all, but some whom he willed,” with these words⁶:

We, taking the simple and obvious sense from divine Scripture, judge concerning his sayings in such a manner that, when we hear the Lord speaking thus⁷—

—“The Father raises the dead and vivifies them, and the Son vivifies whom he wills,” οὐχ ὡς τινῶν ἀποβαλλομένων τοῦ ζωοποιοῦ θελήματος, ἐκ τούτου νοοῦμεν, we do not understand this as though some were rejected from his vivifying will. But since we have received and believe that all things which belong to the Father also belong to the Son, therefore we behold in the Son the will of the Father also, as one of all those things. If, then, the Father’s will is in the Son, while the Father, as the Apostle says⁸, wills all men to be saved and to come to the acknowledgment of the truth, surely he who possesses all the Father’s things and has the whole Father in himself has in himself, together with his Father’s other goods, the will to save also. If, therefore, he does not lack this perfect will, it is entirely manifest that he too vivifies all whom the Father wills to be vivified, and is not inferior to the Father in the beneficent will toward men, as Apollinaris supposes when he says ὅτι τινὰς ἠθέλησεν, οὐ πάντας ζωοποιηθῆναι, that he willed not all but only some to be saved. Οὐ γὰρ παρὰ τὴν τοῦ κυριακοῦ θελήματος αἰτίαν οἱ μὲν σώζονται, οἱ δὲ ἀπόλλυνται· ἢ οὕτω γ᾽ ἂν εἰς ἐκεῖνο ἐπανίοι ἡ τῶν ἀπολλυμένων αἰτία· ἀλλὰ παρὰ τὴν προαίρεσιν τῶν δεχομένων τὸν λόγον, συμβαίνει τὸ σώζεσθαί τινας, ἢ ἀπόλλυσθαι. For the divine will is not the cause why some are saved while others perish; otherwise the destruction of the latter would have to be referred to that will as its cause. But it happens through the free choice of those receiving the word that some are saved and others perish.

There was thus something in which Gregory and Apollinaris agreed, and something in which they differed. They agreed a) in this, that each attributed to God the Father a salvific will, and the same a universal one. But they differed b) in this, that Apollinaris asserted no other salvific will in Christ than one circumscribed and comprehending only the compass of some. Gregory opposes c) this opinion proper to Apollinaris, and ascribes one and the same will alike to the Father and to the Son. Nor d) does he merely ascribe it, but in addition assigns the reason why it must be judged universal: namely, lest otherwise e) the rationale of death and damnation should be laid not upon men abusing the gifts they had received and their liberty, but upon God, who had neglected some of them.

This cannot be done without the gravest and most manifest error. For just as God despises no one and desires the life and salvation of all, so⁹ he perpetually pours forth his benignity upon all.