S. Gregorii Thaumaturgi Episcopi et ConfessorisSt. Gregory the Wonderworker, Bishop and Confessor

Lesson I

Lesson from the book of Joel

Joel 1:1-4

The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Phatuel. Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land: did this ever happen in your days, or in the days of your fathers? Tell ye of this to your children, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation. That which the palmerworm hath left, the locust hath eaten: and that which the locust hath left, the bruchus hath eaten: and that which the bruchus hath left, the mildew hath destroyed.

Lesson II

Joel 1:5-7

Awake, ye that are drunk, and weep, and mourn all ye that take delight in drinking sweet wine: for it is cut off from your mouth. For a nation is come up upon my land, strong and without number: his teeth are like the teeth of a lion: and his cheek teeth as of a lion's whelp. He hath laid my vineyard waste, and hath pilled off the bark of my fig tree: he hath stripped it bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.

Lesson III

Joel 1:8-11

Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. Sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of the Lord: the priests, the Lord's ministers, have mourned: The country is destroyed, the ground hath mourned: for the corn is wasted, the wine is confounded, the oil hath languished. The husbandmen are ashamed, the vinedressers have howled for the wheat, and for the barley, because the harvest of the field is perished.

Lesson IV

Gregory, Archbishop of Neo-Caesarea, in Pontus, is famous indeed for his holiness and doctrine, but much more so on account of the signs and wonders which he wrought, the number and character of which were so extraordinary that they have gotten him the name of Thaumatourgos, (which is, being interpreted from the Greek, the Wonderworker.) Holy Basil compareth him with Moses, with the Prophets, and with the Apostles, and testifieth that by his prayers he moved a mountain that stood in the way of the building of a Church. Moreover, he dried up a marsh, which was a cause of strife between brothers. Also, when the River Lycus overflowed and wasted the fields, he set his walking-stick on the bank, ~(which stick forthwith grew into a green tree,) and confined the stream within its bed, so that it never more passed that place again.

Lesson V

He oftentimes cast out devils either from heathen idols or from the bodies of men, and did many other marvelous things, whereby he drew countless numbers to believe in Jesus Christ. Also he had the spirit of prophecy, and foretold things to come. When he was at the point of death, he asked how many unbelievers were left in the city of Neo-Caesarea? and when they answered Seventeen, he gave God thanks, and said: Just so many were the faithful when I took the Bishopric. He wrote a great deal, whereby, as well as by his wonders, he hath enlightened the Church of God.

Lesson VI

From the Sermons of St. Maximus, Bishop (of Turin.)

59 Homily, being the 2nd on St. Eusebius of Vercelli.

Our blessed Father Gregory is safe now, and we may safely praise his great deeds. He that kept such a manful hand upon the tiller of faith, hath now cast the anchor of hope in moorings of great calm, and brought his ship, heavy laden with heavenly riches and everlasting merchandise, safe into the heaven where he would be. Thus fareth it now with him who never fainted, but for so long time held up ever the shield of the fear of God against all that did beset him. What was his whole life but one long fight against an enemy that never slept?

Lesson VII

From the Holy Gospel according to Mark

Mark 11:22-24

And Jesus answering, saith to them: Have the faith of God. Amen I say to you, that whosoever shall say to this mountain, Be thou removed and be cast into the sea, and shall not stagger in his heart, but believe, that whatsoever he saith shall be done; it shall be done unto him. And so on.

Homily by the Venerable Bede, Priest (at Jarrow.)

Bk. iii. Comment, on Mark, xi.

The heathen, who have written blasphemies against the Church, are used to cast in our teeth that we have not full faith in God, since we have never been able to move mountains. Such should be answered that we do not possess records of everything that hath come to pass in the Church, any more than, the Scripture being witness, we possess records of all the doings of our Lord Christ Himself. ~(John xx. 30; xxi. 25.) Mountains may have been removed and cast into the sea, in case of need; a like case, indeed, as we read, was that which came to pass at the prayers of the Blessed Father Gregory, Archbishop of Neo-Caesarea, in Pontus, that right worthy and mighty man, when a mountain was moved from one place on land to another place on land, as the dwellers in the city had need.

Lesson VIII

Gregory was wishful to build a Church in a meet place, but the site was too narrow, being wedged in between a mountain on the one side and a precipice going down into the sea on the other. He came therefore by night to the place, kneeling down, and reminding the Lord of His promise, and calling upon Him to remove the mountain. And in the morning, when he came thither again, he found that the mountain had been removed back, and as much room left for the builders of the Church as they needed. This man therefore would have been able, and any other man of like grace would have been able, if need were, to obtain of the Lord, by the force of his faith, that even a mountain should be removed, and be cast into the sea.

Lesson IX

Mystically, however, by a mountain is sometimes signified the devil, on account of the pride whereby he lifteth himself up against God, and would fain be like unto the Most High. And when holy teachers, strong in faith, do preach the Word, this mountain is removed, and cast into the sea, that is to say, the unclean spirit is removed out of the hearts of such as are foreordained unto eternal life, and sent free to exercise the wild rage of his tyranny in the riotous and embittered minds of the unfaithful.

Te Deum