09 July 2010

Patristic Quote of the Day - in Honor of the Synodical Convention



St. Gregory of Nazianzus' Letter CXXX:

For my part, if I am to write the truth, 
my inclination is to avoid all assemblies of bishops, 
because I have never seen any Council come to a good end, 
nor turn out to be a solution of evils.  
On the contrary, it usually increases them.  
You always find there love of contention and love of power 
(I hope you will not think me a bore, for writing like this), 
which beggars description; 
and, while sitting in judgment on others, 
a man might well be convicted of ill-doing himself 
long before he should put down the ill-doing of his opponents.

1 comment:

Becky said...

Sounds like he and Matt Harrison might have have been best buds had they been contemporaries. Did he, by any chance, end any of his writings with "Let's go!"