Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome, March 20, 2023
Speaker: Miguel Brugarolas (Universidad de Navarra)
***
Brugarolas examined Gregory of Nyssa’s contribution on the union of opposites in man and in Christ. He started with the opposition of contraries in creation and especially in man, moved to the conjunction of opposites in Christ and its soteriological character, and finally, as a recapitulation of both, discussed the relation established by Gregory between creation and resurrection.
According to Brugarolas, Gregory, «who knows extensively the cosmology and medicine of his time, also considers that, in the very nature of things, the opposite qualities are mixed in all beings of this world for a harmony». Furthermore, «this relationship of mutual agreement between all things, the conspiracy (σύμπνοια) that occurs between them, is based on divine creation and not on a divine principle immanent in the world as understood by stoicism». So, the opposing forces and elements that are observed in things manifest the distinction between the creature and the Creator and, at the same time, the harmony and “conspiracy” of all these elements is a sign of the wisdom and goodness of God that orders and governs all that exists.
For Stoicism, who admired the harmony and beauty of the universe, man was considered a microcosm because, by participating in all its elements, he carries within himself an image of the universe. For Gregory, on the other hand, the greatness of man consists not in his similarity to the universe, but in being the image of the Creator. And «the opposition between the traits of divine beauty with which man has been clothed and his kinship with beasts does not consist in the opposition between spiritual reality and corporeal or sensible reality in man»: the Nyssen considers that «the image of God is global and globalizing in the human being». This is so because «the creation of soul and body in the same divine act and the participation of both in divine beauty as the image of God – the soul primarily and the body because it is united to it– show that the opposition to the image of God in man it is not dictated by the body, as a material principle, but by human freedom that leans towards the irrational through a voluntary movement. Man has a will that depends on his free will and that allows him to incline to evil, thus establishing a contradiction with what God has given him to be».
Then, Brugarolas considered the union of opposites in Christ, where «the paradox is total, since it is about the union of God and man». In fact, «the union of the divine and the human in Christ is an ineffable (ἄρρητον) and inexpressible (ἀνέκφραστον) mystery. Gregorio is well aware of this and rather than explaining how the incarnation occurs, he strives to underline the paradox that it entails, closely following the narrative of the New Testament, and emphasizing the soteriological character that reveals its meaning».
The Nyssen’s soteriological reasoning also follows the path of the theology of the image. Brugarolas explains, with Gregory, that «the Word, that by its nature is invisible and equal to God, when assuming the human form becomes the image of God in a new sense: the one who from all eternity is the perfect Image of the Father and equal to the Father, becomes a “visible” image of God, image of God in the form of a servant, image of God in his humanity, to create again in man the divine image that he had lost through sin. Thus, man is transformed by Christ, who returns him to the beauty of the beginning». In short, «Gregory understands salvation as the restoration in man of the original beauty when the image of God shone in his being».
Gregory equally shows how «the anthropological paradox that occurs in the situation of man after sin corresponds to another paradox, this time soteriological, that occurs in Christ: life comes through death, and glory through the dishonor of the cross». In addition, «the resurrection of Christ appears as the divine action that reverses the deviation of the soul and for this reason it is the beginning of the restoration of the divine image in man».
Finally, and in words of Gregory in Tunc et ipse, Christ «uniting us to himself causes our union with the Father through himself». In practice, this means that «return to the original unity of the human being takes place through the union of opposites in Christ, which inaugurates for humanity a new communion with God: in nature, through communion with the humanity of Christ, and in election, through the restoration of that which “is changeable in our soul” and opens the way for the imitation of Christ and the virtue that leads to incorruptibility».
