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An Echo of Christian Antiquity in St. Gregory the Great: Death a Struggle with the Devil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2017

Alfred C. Rush
Alfred C. Rush*
Affiliation:
The Catholic University of America
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Extract

It is not without reason that Harnack calls St. Gregory the Great ‘Doctor angelorum et diaboli.’ The misery of Gregory's times, occasioned by the incessant attacks of the Lombards, made him convinced that the end of the world was at hand. Thus it is that his thought has a definitely eschatological stamp. The terrors of death and the fierce onslaughts of the devil were popular themes with St. Gregory the Great.

Type
Miscellany
Information
Traditio , Volume 3 , 1945 , pp. 369 - 380
Copyright
Copyright © 1945 by Cosmopolitan Science & Art Service Co., Inc. 

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References

1 Harnack, A., Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte 3 (Freiburg im Breisgau3 1897) 242.Google Scholar

2 Dudden, F, Gregory the Great, his Place in History and Thought 2 (London 1905) 3–42, 430; Batiffol, P, Saint Gregoire le Grand (Paris 1928) 73. Cf. Vasiliev, A., ‘Medieval Ideas on the End of the World: West and East,’ Byzantion 16 (1942–1943) 462–502.Google Scholar

3 Homilia in Evangelia II, 39, 4 (PL 76, 1296): ‘Qui unquam sunt humanae animae maiores inimici, quam maligni spiritus, qui hanc a corpore exeuntem obsident?’ For a discussion of the relation between death and the devil in patristic thought, cf. Rivière, J. ‘Mort et démon chez les Pères,’ Revue des sciences religieuses 10 (1930) 577–621.Google Scholar

4 Hom. in Evan. II, 39, 8 (PL 76, 1299).Google Scholar

5 Ibid.: ‘Unde curandum nobis est, et cum magnis quotidie fletibus cogitandum, quam rabidus, quam terribilis sua in nobis opera requirens in die exitus nostri princeps huius mundi veniat, si etiam ad Deum carne morientem venit, et in illo aliquid quaesivit in quo invenire nihil potuit.'Google Scholar

6 Ibid. (PL 76, 1298): ‘Nam cogitandum valde est quantum nobis erit terribilis hora nostrae resolutionis, qui pavor mentis, quanta tunc omnium malorum memoria, quae oblivio transactae felicitatis, quae formido et consideratio judicis. Tunc maligni spiritus in egrediente anima sua opera requirunt; tunc mala quae suaserunt replicant, ut sociam ad tormenta trahant. Sed cur hoc de perversa solummodo anima dicimus, cum ad electos quoque egredientes veniant, et suum in illis, si praevaleant, aliquid requirant?'Google Scholar

7 Ibid. 9 (PL 76, 1299–1300): ‘Quid requirenti adversario et multa sua in nobis invenienti dicemus, nisi solum quod nobis est certum refugium, et solida spes, quia unum cum illo facti sumus in quo princeps huius mundi et suum aliquid requisivit, et invenire minime potuit? Constat enim, nec negare possumus, sed veraciter fatemur quia princeps huius mundi habet in nobis multa; sed tamen mortis nostrae tempore iam nos rapere non valet, quia eius membra effecti sumus, in quo non habet quidquam.'Google Scholar

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18 Dialogi IV, 40 (295 Moricca).Google Scholar

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20 Hom. in Evan. I, 12, 7 (PL 76, 1122): Dialogi IV, 40 (293–4 Moricca).Google Scholar

21 The ancient pagans and also the Christians usually portrayed the devil as a black demon. Cf. Dölger, F, Die Sonne der Gerechtigkeit und der Schwarze (Liturgiegeschichtliche Forschungen 2, Münster 1919); Rush, A. C., Death and Burial in Christian Antiquity (Studies in Christian Antiquity ed. Quasten, Johannes, 1, Washington 1941) 210–211; Zimmermann, F, ‘Kleine Beiträge zur Religionsgeschichte, 1: Die schwarze Farbe des Teufels,’ Theologie und Glaube 4 (1912) 631–634. Gregory the Great speaks of the devil coming to a child in the form of a Moor: cf. Dialogi IV, 19 (257 Moricca): ‘Mauri homines venerunt, qui me tollere volunt.’ Very often the devil was pictured as an Egyptian or an Ethiopian. Cf. Quasten, J., ‘Die Grabinschrift des Beratius Nikatoras,’ Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Römische Abteilung 53 (1938) 64 n. 1.Google Scholar

22 Hom. in Evan. I, 12, 7 (PL 76, 1122): ‘Qui ad extremum veniens, eadem hora qua iam de corpore erat exiturus, apertis oculis vidit tetros et nigerrimos spiritus coram se assistere, et vehementer imminere, ut ad inferni claustra se raperent.'Google Scholar

23 Ibid.: ‘Pavore autem tetrae eorum imaginis huc illucque vertebatur in lectulo, iacebat in sinistro latere, aspectum eorum ferre non poterat; vertebatur ad parietem, ibi aderant. Cumque constrictus nimis relaxari se iam posse desperaret, coepit magnis vocibus clamare, dicens: Inducias vel usque mane, inducias vel usque mane.'Google Scholar

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25 Achelis, H., Das Christentum in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten 1 (Leipzig 1912) 132; Quasten, ‘Die Grabinschrift des Beratius Nikatoras’ 61–62; Rush, Death and Burial 29–39; Prat, F Stoddard, J., The Theology of St. Paul 2 (London 1927) 408–410; Gruenthaner, M., ‘The Demonology of the Old Testament,’ Catholic Biblical Quarterly 6 (1944) 6–27 Google Scholar

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39 Ibid. 2, 5 (68 Knopf-Krüger): ‘sed in illos quoque manum diabolus insatiabilem porrigebat.'Google Scholar

40 Ibid. 5, 1 (69 Knopf-Krüger).Google Scholar

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43 Passio S. Bonifatii 13 (330 Ruinart). The rǒle of the angel was to assist the dying, ward off the attacks of the devil, and. then bear the soul to heaven. Cf. Rush, op. cit. 36–43; Nock, A., ‘Postscript,’ Harvard Theological Review 34 (1941) 103–109. For other accounts stressing martyrdom as a struggle with the devil, and the executioners as instruments of the devil, cf. Passio SS. Carpi, Pamfili et Agathonicae 4, 36 (9–10 (Knopf-Krüger): ‘et descendentes festinaverunt ad amphitheatrum venire, ut celerius adimplerent certamen suum turba vero astante ministri diaboli expoliantes primo Pamfilium ligno crucifixerunt.’ Acta S. Maximi 2, 4 (61 Knopf-Krüger): ‘et sic raptus est athleta Christi a ministris diaboli, gratias agens deo et patri per Iesum Christum filium eius, qui eum dignum iudicauit certando diabolum superare.’ Acta S. Julii 4, 5 106 (Knopf-Krüger): ‘minister itaque diaboli percutiens gladio finem imposuit beatissimo martyri.’ Passio SS. Victoris, Alexandri, Feliciani atque Longini 5 (334 Ruinart): ‘Tunc impiissimus Caesar omni fera crudelior, omni dracone malignior, diabolica face succensus in rabiem vertitur.'Google Scholar

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47 Ad Fortunatum 13 (1, 346 Hartel): ‘si militibus saecularibus gloriosum est ut hoste deuicto redeant in patriam triumphantes, quanto potior et maior est gloria uicto diabolo ad paradisum triumphantem redire..?'Google Scholar

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52 Jerome, Epistula 108, 31 (CSEL 55, 349 Hilberg): ‘non solum effusio sanguinis in confessione reputatur, sed deuotae quoque mentis seruitus cotidianum martyrium est.’ Although this concept received greater emphasis after the peace of the Church, it was already developed in the time of persecution. Cf. Cyprian, De opere et eleemosynis 26 (CSEL 3, 1, 394 Hartel); De zelo et livore 16 (CSEL 3, 1, 430–431 Hartel); Epistula 10, 5 (CSEL 3, 2, 495 Hartel).Google Scholar

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57 Acts of John 114 (James, M. R., The Apocryphal New Testament [Oxford, 1926] 228). Cf. Acts of Thomas 148 (429–430 James); Apocalypse of Paul 14 (531 James); Sahidic Fragments of the Life of the Virgin 105 (Texts and Studies 4, 2, 39 Robinson); Sahidic Fragments of the Death of Joseph 3, 22 (158 Robinson).Google Scholar

58 Origen, Homilia 28 in Lucam (GCS 9, 154–155 Rauer): ‘Cum exierimus e saeculo et haec vita nostra fuerit commutata, erunt quidam in finibus mundi sedentes, velut publicanorum officio diligentissime perscrutantes ne quid sui in nobis reperiant. Videtur mihi princeps saeculi huius quasi publicanus esse, unde scriptum est de eo: venit princeps mundi istius et in me non habet quidquam.'Google Scholar

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63 Hom. in Evan. II, 38, 16 (PL 76, 1293): ‘Gratias Deo, ecce draco qui me ad devorandum acceperat fugit, orationibus vestris expulsus stare non potuit.'Google Scholar

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66 Rom. in Evan. I, 12, 7 (PL 76, 1122–1123): ‘Nam illi tetros spiritus ante mortem vidisse, et inducias petiisse, quid profuit, qui easdem inducias quas petiit, non accepit?'Google Scholar

67 Dialogi IV, 40 (294 Moricca): ‘De quo nimirum constat, quia pro nobis ista, non pro se viderat, ut eius visio nobis proficiat, quos adhuc divina patientia longanimiter expectat.'Google Scholar

68 Hom. in Evan. I, 12, 7 (PL 76, 1123): ‘Nos ergo, fratres charissimi, nunc sollicite ista cogitemus, ne nobis in vacuum tempora pereant, et tunc quaeramus ad bene agendum vivere, cum iam compellimur de corpore exire.’ Gregory inculcates a similar moral lesson from the story of the monk from Iconium. Cf. Dialogi IV, 40 (295 Moricca): ‘Quod nimirum constat quia ad solam utilitatem audientium viderit, qui eum hostem, cui traditus fuerat, et innotuit et non evasit.'Google Scholar

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