The Theologian Against the Apostate; Gregory of Nazianus' Orations 4 and 5

Chapter 3 The Theologian againts the Apostate: Gregory of Nazianzus’ Orations 4 and 5

I think that there are many who will eagerly write an account [about Julian] - should one call it a tragedy or a comedy? – of what happened at that time. They will consider it a duty of piety to cast a word against this criminal, in order that a matter of such importance and so unworthy of being forgotten, may be handed down to posterity. I, however, instead of telling all, shall content myself to mention one or two examples for the benefit of those who so greatly admire his conduct, so that they may know that they are endeavouring to praise a person for whom it is not even possible to find invective (psogos) equal to the reproach he deserts.[1]

3.1 Introduction

Julian had reigned as sole emperor for only nineteen months when he died in a battle campaign against the Persians in June 363. Despite the briefness of his reign, his person and actions nevertheless managed to leave a lasting impression on posterity. The views on his person and accomplishments were from the very start deeply divided between the greatest admiration and the deepest contempt, and during the following years a struggle to define his posthumous reputation played out. On the pagan side, Julian’s friend and most prominent defender, Libanius, wrote grand orations glorifying his memory and his virtues.[2] However, this view did not become the prevailing one. Soon, on the opposite side, Christians exulted over the fall of the apostate emperor, and were relieved that they had overcome the threats and calamities to which he had exposed them. It is on this side we find the subject matter for the present chapter, namely Gregory of Nazianzus and his orations 4 and 5 against Julian.[3]

Det er disse talene, overlevert som orationes 4 og 5, som er den eldste skriftlige kilde for det tilnavnet som siden har fulgt keiseren, Julian apostaten eller den frafalne.[4] Bakgrunnen er at Julian, som eneste keiser på et halvt århundre, hadde gått bort fra kristendommen og dermed opphevet dens særstilling i rommerriket.

The conspicuously fierce and vengeful rhetoric, as well as the collected size of these two orations mark them out as particularly important exemplifications of the invective literature of the age. By their abundance of material, their numerous angles of attack and by their artful rhetoric, the texts build a paradigmatic image of Julian as “the most impious and ungodly of all men”,[5] and committer of the vilest actions possible. Indeed, the sheer harshness of the orations induced Rosemary Ruether to describe these works as ”two invectives which are perhaps as vindictive a pair of diatribes as ever has flowed from the pen of an intelligent man”.[6] Although her description speaks in capital letters, other judgments in modern scholarship generally concur on the degree of Gregory’s virulence.[7]

Norden, Antike Kunstprosa, s. 562-3: „Viele haben damals [das Vierte Jahrhundert] glühend gehaßt und heilig geliebt wie er, aber keiner hat alle Töne lodernder Leidenschaft mit einer solchen Meisterschaft in der Sprache zum Ausdruck gebracht, gleich gewaltig, mag er den toten Apostaten, seinen einstigen Jugendfreund, in worten maßlosen Hasses als wildes Tier schildern, oder den Basileios verherrlichen …“

I will, however, argue that although the orations contain invective and severely mocking passages, the general impression of the speeches are that they are more harshly defensive and argumentative than actually invective in form. In fact, they do not appear extreme compared to John Chrysostom, or Libanius, to take two examples. The commentators have made this point without contextualizing. – equally an apologetic text. Much of the text is not so much about attacking Julian and paganism, as defending the Christian faith. Seemingly, Christianity is not divided against Julian and his paganism. Gregory’s image is a unified Christianity (heresies are not mentioned)

The number of studies that have appeared on these orations during the last three decades, have centred on a few recurring topics. These have included various arguments for their dating and occasion, the precise relation between the two orations, the extent of Gregory’s precise knowledge and sources of Julian’s life and actions, and the various motives for composing the orations. Yet, the topic that has attracted the single most attention involves a wider context, and it regards Gregory’s reaction to Julian’s anti-Christian policy. Particularly his defence of the Christians’ right to the pagan classical culture, or what may be termed paideia. The anger Gregory voices at the threat of being denied part in paideia, which is what Julian ultimately endeavoured, is an expression of how deeply his own education in pagan classical literature and his years of training in the use of pagan rhetorical models had influenced him. For him, studies of both Christian texts and of pagan classics were not necessarily a contradiction.[8]

Although several of these mentioned points will be touched upon here, this chapter shall not revisit the value of these orations as historical sources to Julian’s cultural policy. Instead, the focus will remain largely on Gregory’s two orations as rhetorical literature. Whereas some previous studies have remarked on the texts rhetorical aspect, this has not been their primary focus. What has been missing in particular is a study of the orations’ virulence in the general context of the invective rhetoric of the time. The chapter will start by the contents of the orations and … highlighting some notable invective sections of the speeches, before moving on to a review of previous scholarship, and main discussion of motive, structure, title, genre and audience.

Hovedundersøkelsen av disse talene blir forutgått av en diskusjon av hva talenes overleverte titler kan fortelle om dem, og deretter av hvilket forhold or. 4 og or. 5 har til hverandre, dvs. om de er to uavhengige taler med beslektet innhold, om de egentlig til sammen danner en enhet eller om de utfyller hverandre på annen måte.

Gregory’s life is richly commented upon, but a brief review of his person may be useful.[9]

3.2 Content

Gregory’s attack on Julian has been passed down as two separate texts, orations 4 and 5. Oration 4 is the longest among Gregory’s orations, even longer than his funeral oration on Basil, and the 124 chapters cover more than a hundred pages in the modern text edition. This makes it more than twice as long as oration 5 with its 42 chapters and length of forty pages.[10]

Cf. structure later in chapter!

En gjennomgang av talene med vekt på passasjer som har et invektivisk preg. Se overikt i fotnote 80 hos Lugaresi IV.

FORKORT! Gjør som Lugaresi IV?

The introduction of the first speech (4.1-20), which runs to 15 pages, opens with a solemn call to the audience – all the people in the world, living and dead – for them to participate in a thanksgiving to God for his defeat of evil (4.1-3):

Hear this, all you nations! Listen, all you who live in this world! —For it is as if I were standing on a most conspicuous and lofty watchtower, shouting to everyone with a loud and high-pitched cry. — Hear, you "peoples, tribes, and persons of every la

[1] Τá½° μá½²ν οá½-ν ἄλλα τοá¿-ς βουλομένοις á¼±στορεá¿-ν τε καὶ γράφειν παρήσω, τοῦ λÏŒγου σπεύδοντος, πολλοá¿-ς δá½² οἶμαι σπουδασθήσεσθαι τοῦτÏŒτε καιροῦ τá½´ν εá¼´τε τραγῳδίαν χρá½´ λέγειν, εá¼´τε κωμῳδίαν, οá¼·ς μέρος εὐσεβείας δÏŒξει λÏŒγῳ βάλλειν τὸν á¼€λιτήριον ὡς καὶ τοá¿-ς á¼”πειτα παραδοθῆναι πρᾶγμα τοσοῦτον καὶ á¼¥κιστα τοῦ λαθεá¿-ν ἄξιοναὐτὸς δá½² á¼€ντὶ πάντων ἓν á¼¢ δύο δείγματος ἐρῶ χάριντοá¿-ς σφÏŒδρα τá½° ἐκείνου θαυμάζουσιν, á¼µν’ εá¼°δῶσι τοῦτον ἐπαινεá¿-ν á¼€ξιοῦντες, οá½- μηδá½² ψÏŒγον á¼”στιν εὑρεá¿-ν ἄξιον (4.79).

[2] Orations 17 og 18.

[3] Among the large number of studies on Gregory, the following titles provide a useful overview of his life and work: Bernhard Wyss, “Gregor II (Gregor von Nazianz),” in Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum [ = RAC] (Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann, 1983), 793–863 (1983); Jean Bernardi, Saint Grégoire de Nazianze: Le Théologien et son temps (330-390) (Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 1995) (1995); John A. McGuckin, St. Gregory of Nazianzus: An Intellectual Biography (Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001) (2001).

[4] Or. 4.1 and Or. 5.17. In Edward Gibbon’s words,”the triumph of the party, which he deserted and opposed, has fixed a stain of infamy on the name of Julian; and the unsuccessful apostate has been overwhelmed with a torrent of pious invectives, of which the signal was given by the sonorous trumpet of Gregory Nazianzen.” (The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (London: Everyman’s Library, 1993), chap. 23.). The memory of Julian’s threat to Christianity remained powerful long after his death, and the decades following Gregory’s invectives saw the appearance of extensive anti-Julianic works by both John Chrysostom and Cyril of Alexandria.

[5] ὁ á¼€σεβέστατος πάντων καὶ á¼€θεÏŽτατος (4.38).

[6] Rosemary R. Ruether, Gregory of Nazianzus: Rhetor and Philosopher (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969), 163.

[7] E.g. Jean Bernardi regards the invectives as “un écrit dont la virulence déconcerte quelque peu le lecteur moderne” (Grégoire de Nazianze: Discours 4-5, Contre Julien (Introduction, texte critique, traduction et notes), Sources Chrétiennes 309 (Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 1983), 21.), and similarly “la lecture de cette polémique laisse au cœur de l’homme moderne un certain malaise” (“Un réquisitoire: Les invectives contre Julien de Grégoire de Nazianze,” in L’Empereur Julien. De l’histoire à la legende (331-1715), ed. René Braun and Jean Richer (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1978), 91.). However, Bernardi’s judgment is not altogether without praise: “Souvent, la seduction naturelle de Grégoire transparaît malgré la virulence des attaques” (Ibid.). Leonardo Lugaresi notes “l’implacabile e innegabile ferocia delle due orazioni” as well as Gregory’s “continuo e quasi ossessivo attacco personale a Giuliano. Gli insulti, le espressioni di sferzante sarcasmo o comunque tese a ridicolizzarlo quasi non si contano.” (Gregorio di Nazianzo: Contro Giuliano l’apostata. Oratio IV (Firenze: Nardini, 1993), 18, 37.).

[8] For a review of the literature on the orations, see below.

[9] Hans-Georg Beck, Rede als Kunstwerk und Bekenntnis: Gregor von Nazianz, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-historische Klasse. Sitzungsberichte, 1977, Heft 4 (München: Verlag der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1977), 4.

[10] According to TLG, Or. 4 contains 18,851 words, while Or. 5 contains 7,878 words. In comparison, Gregory’s very long funeral oration to Basil (Or. 43) contains 17,970 words.