Library › St Gregory of Nyssa › On the Lord’s Prayer

On the Lord’s Prayer

St Gregory of Nyssa, tr. Graef, 1954

6. The Beatitudes: Sermon 6

Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God

When from the sublime words of the Lord resembling the summit of a mountain I looked down into the ineffable depths of His thoughts, my mind had the experience of a man who gazes from a high ridge into the immense sea below him. On the coast one can often see some mountain whose front, facing the sea, is cut off straight from top to bottom, while its projecting upper part forms a peak overhanging the depth. Now if a man looked down from such a high peak into the sea below, he would feel giddy. So also my soul does now, as it is raised from the ground by this great word of the Lord, Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God. God is promised to the vision of those whose heart has been purified. But No man hath seen God at any time,¹ as says the great John. And the sublime mind of Paul confirms this verdict when he says, Whom no man hath seen, nor can see.²

This is the slippery, steep rock that affords no basis for our thoughts, which the teaching of Moses, too, declared to be so inaccessible that our mind can nowhere approach Him. For all possibility of apprehension is taken away by this explicit denial, No man can see the Lord and live.³ Yet to see the Lord is eternal life. On the other hand, those pillars of the faith, John and Paul and Moses, declare it to be impossible. Do you realize the vertigo of the soul that is drawn to the depths contemplated in these words? If God is life, then the man who does not see Him does not see life. On the other hand, the Divinely inspired prophets and apostles testify that God cannot be seen. Is not the hope of man annihilated? Yet the Lord supports this faltering hope, as He did with Peter whom He put back on the water He had made solid, when he was in danger of sinking. If, therefore, the Hand of the Word is stretched out also to us and confirms in a different view those who have lost their balance in the depths of their speculations, we may be without fear, as we are firmly held by the guiding Hand of the Word. For He says, Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.

Now this promise is so great that it transcends the utmost limits of beatitude. For what else could one desire after such a good, since he possesses all things in the One he contemplates? For according to Scriptural use to see means the same as to have; for example, Mayst thou see the good things of Jerusalem⁴ instead of “Mayst thou find,” which is the meaning of the passage; and Let the ungodly be taken away, that he may not see the glory of the Lord,⁵ where by not seeing the prophet indicates not participating in. Hence the man who sees God possesses in this act of seeing all there is of the things that are good. By this we understand life without end, eternal incorruption, undying beatitude. With these we shall enjoy the everlasting Kingdom of unceasing happiness; we shall see the true Light and hear the sweet voice of the Spirit; we shall exult perpetually in all that is good in the inaccessible glory.

So magnificent a consummation is offered to our hope in the promise made in the Beatitude. But since, as has been shown before, the seeing has been made dependent on purity of heart, my mind once more grows dizzy, lest perhaps purity of heart should be impossible to achieve because it surpasses our nature. For if the vision of God depends on this; but if, on the other hand, Moses and Paul did not see Him—and it is stated that neither he nor anyone else can see Him⁶—the Word now seems to propose something impossible in the Beatitude. What, therefore, do we gain from knowing how one sees God, if the mind finds it impossible to do so? It would be just as if one said that it is blessed to be in Heaven, because there one contemplates what cannot be seen in this life. Now if this statement also showed a means of journeying to Heaven, it would indeed be profitable to the hearers to learn that it is blessed to be there. But as long as the ascent is impossible, what use is it to know about the Heavenly beatitude? It only saddens those who have learned about it to realize of what things we are deprived, because the ascent is not feasible.

Yet should the Lord command something so great that it completely surpasses our nature and the limits of its power? Surely not. He does not tell those He has not provided with wings to become birds, nor does He bid creatures He has destined to sojourn on land to live in the water. The law is adapted to the capacities of those that receive it in everything else, and nothing is enforced that is beyond nature. Hence we shall realize that neither does the Beatitude set forth what outstrips hope. Nor have John, Paul, Moses, and others like them been lacking in this transcendent beatitude that consists in seeing God. No; for the one said: There is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the Lord the just Judge will render to me;⁷ the other lay upon the breast of Jesus;⁸ and the third heard the Divine Voice say, I have known thee above all.⁹

Now it cannot be doubted that those who have proclaimed the perception of God to be above human power are themselves blessed. On the other hand, beatitude consists in seeing God, and this depends on being pure of heart. Hence surely the purity of heart through which we may become blessed cannot be impossible. How is it then that the voice of the Lord, which promises that God may be seen if we are pure, should not contradict those who, according to St. Paul, evidently speak the truth if they contend that the contemplation of God is beyond our power?

I think it will be best first to say a few words relevant to this subject by way of digression, so that our consideration of the present question may become more methodical. The Divine Nature, whatever It may be in Itself, surpasses every mental concept. For It is altogether inaccessible to reasoning and conjecture, nor has there been found any human faculty capable of perceiving the incomprehensible; for we cannot devise a means of understanding inconceivable things. Therefore the great Apostle calls His ways unsearchable,¹⁰ meaning by this that the way that leads to the knowledge of the Divine Essence is inaccessible to thought. That is to say, none of those who have passed through life before us has made known to the intelligence so much as a trace by which might be known what is above knowledge.

Since such is He whose nature is above every nature, the Invisible and Incomprehensible is seen and apprehended in another manner. Many are the modes of such perception. For it is possible to see Him who has made all things in wisdom¹¹ by way of inference through the wisdom that appears in the universe. It is the same as with human works of art where, in a way, the mind can perceive the maker of the product that is before it, because he has left on his work the stamp of his art. In this, however, is seen not the nature of the artist, but only his artistic skill which he has left impressed on his handiwork. Thus also, when we look at the order of creation, we form in our mind an image not of the essence, but of the wisdom of Him who has made all things wisely. And if we consider the cause of our life, that He came to create man not from necessity, but from the free decision of His Goodness, we say that we have contemplated God by this way, that we have apprehended His Goodness—though again not His Essence, but His Goodness. It is the same with all other things that raise the mind to transcendent Goodness, all these we can term apprehensions of God, since each one of these sublime meditations places God within our sight. For power, purity, constancy, freedom from contrariety—all these engrave on the soul the impress of a Divine and transcendent Mind. Hence it is clear through what has just been said that the Lord speaks the truth when He promises that God will be seen by those who have a pure heart; nor does Paul deceive when he asserts in his letters that no one has seen God nor can see Him. For He is invisible by nature, but becomes visible in His energies,¹² for He may be contemplated in the things that are referred to Him.

But the meaning of the Beatitude is not only restricted to this that He who operates can be known by analogy through His operations; for perhaps the wise of this world, too, might gain some knowledge of the transcendent Wisdom and Power from the harmony of the universe. No; I think this magnificent Beatitude proffers another counsel to those able to receive and contemplate what they desire. I make clear by examples what I have in mind.

Bodily health is one of the desirable things in human life; but it is blessed not only to know the principle of health, but to be healthy. For supposing someone had sung the praises of health, yet took some unwholesome food that generated bad juices—what use is it to him to have praised health, seeing he is afflicted with diseases? In the same way, therefore, we should understand the words we are considering. The Lord does not say it is blessed to know something about God, but to have God present within oneself. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God. I do not think that if the eye of one’s soul¹³ has been purified, he is promised a direct vision of God; but perhaps this marvellous saying may suggest what the Word expresses more clearly when He says to others, The Kingdom of God is within you.¹⁴ By this we should learn that if a man’s heart has been purified from every creature and all unruly affections, he will see the Image of the Divine Nature in his own beauty. I think that in this short saying the Word expresses some such counsel as this: There is in you, human beings, a desire to contemplate the true good. But when you hear that the Divine Majesty is exalted above the heavens, that Its glory is inexpressible, Its beauty ineffable, and Its Nature inaccessible, do not despair of ever beholding what you desire. It is indeed within your reach; you have within yourselves the standard by which to apprehend the Divine. For He who made you did at the same time endow your nature with this wonderful quality. For God imprinted on it the likeness of the glories of His own Nature, as if moulding the form of a carving into wax. But the evil that has been poured all around the nature bearing the Divine Image has rendered useless to you this wonderful thing, that lies hidden under vile coverings. If, therefore, you wash off by a good life the filth that has been stuck on your heart like plaster, the Divine Beauty will again shine forth in you.

It is the same as happens in the case of iron. If freed from rust by a whetstone, that which but a moment ago was black will shine and glisten brightly in the sun. So it is also with the inner man, which the Lord calls the heart. When he has scraped off the rustlike dirt which dank decay has caused to appear on his form, he will once more recover the likeness of the archetype and be good. For what is like to the Good is certainly itself good. Hence, if a man who is pure of heart sees himself, he sees in himself what he desires; and thus he becomes blessed, because when he looks at his own purity, he sees the archetype in the image.

To give an example. Though men who see the sun in a mirror¹⁵ do not gaze at the sky itself, yet they see the sun in the reflexion of the mirror no less than those who look at its very orb. So, He says, it is also with you. Even though you are too weak to perceive the Light Itself, yet, if you but return to the grace of the Image with which you were informed from the beginning, you will have all you seek in yourselves. For the Godhead is purity, freedom from passion, and separation from all evil. If therefore these things be in you, God is indeed in you. Hence, if your thought is without any alloy of evil, free from passion, and alien from all stain, you are blessed because you are clear of sight. You are able to perceive what is invisible to those who are not purified, because you have been cleansed; the darkness caused by material entanglements has been removed from the eyes of your soul, and so you see the blessed vision radiant in the pure heaven of your heart. But what is this vision? It is purity, sanctity, simplicity, and other such luminous reflections of the Divine Nature, in which God is contemplated.

Now after what has been said, we do not doubt that such is the case. Yet our sermon is still left with the same impasse which has disconcerted us in the beginning. It is this, that admittedly if someone is in Heaven he shares in the Heavenly marvels; but that the manner of ascent is impossible; and none of the things upon which we have agreed leads us any further. For no one doubts that a man becomes blessed if his heart is purified; but how anyone should cleanse it from its stains, this is what seems to oppose itself to the ascent to Heaven. What then is this Jacob’s ladder? How can we find such a fiery chariot by which the prophet Elias was carried up to Heaven, and by which our heart, too, could be lifted up towards the marvels that are above, and shake off this earthly heaviness?

If one considers the inevitable experiences affecting the soul, he will think it absurd and impossible that the evils connected with them should be removed. Our very birth has its beginning in passion, growth proceeds by way of passion, and in passion life also ends. Somehow evil is mixed up with our nature through those who first succumbed to passion, and by their transgression made a permanent place for the disease. Now the nature of living beings is transmitted in each species by its descendants so that, according to the law of nature, that which is born is the same as that from which it is born. So man is born from man, the subject of passion from that which is subject to passion, the sinner from the sinner. Hence sin in some way comes into existence together with those who are born; it is born and grows with them, and at the end of life it also ceases with them. Virtue, on the other hand, is hard for us to attain; even with much sweat and pain, zeal and fatigue, one can hardly establish it. This we are taught in many passages of the Divine Scriptures, when we are told that the way of the Kingdom is strait and passes through narrow paths, whereas the way that leads through a life of wickedness to perdition is broad and runs downhill with ease. Yet Scripture affirms that the higher life is not altogether impossible, for the sacred books tell of the wonderful achievements of so many holy men. But since the promise of seeing God has a twofold meaning, on the one hand, that of knowing the Nature that is above the universe, on the other, that of being united to Him through purity of life, we must say that the voice of the Saints declares the former mode of contemplation to be impossible, whereas the second is promised to human nature in Our Lord’s present teaching, Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.

Now how you can become pure, you may learn through almost the whole teaching of the Gospel. You need only peruse the precepts one by one to find clearly what it is that purifies the heart. For one can divide wickedness under two headings, the one connected with works, the other with thoughts. The former, that is to say, the iniquity that shows itself in works, He has punished through the Old Law. Now, however, He has given the Law regarding the other form of sin, which punishes not so much the evil deed itself, as guards against even the beginning of it. For to remove evil from the very choice of the will is to free life perfectly from bad works. Since evil has many parts and forms, He has opposed by His precepts its own remedy to each of the forbidden things. The disease of wrath is present everywhere all through life, so He begins the cure from what is most prominent, and first lays down the law to refrain from anger. You have learned, He says, from the Old Law, Thou shalt not kill.¹⁶ Learn now to keep your soul from wrath against your neighbour. He has not forbidden wrath completely. For sometimes one may lawfully turn such an emotion also to good use; what the precept abolishes is to be angry with one’s brother for no good reason—for everyone who is angry with his brother in vain:¹⁷ the addition in vain shows that the use of anger is often opportune, namely, whenever this passion is roused for the chastisement of sin. The Word of Scripture has borne witness to this kind of wrath before in the case of Phineas¹⁸ when he propitiated God who had threatened the people, by killing the transgressors of the Law.

He then passes on to the healing of the sins committed for the sake of pleasure, and, by His commandment, frees the heart from the vile desire of adultery. Thus you will find in what follows how the Lord corrects them all one by one, opposing by His Law each one of the forms of evil. He prevents the beginning of unjust violence by not even permitting self-defence. He banishes the passion of avarice by ordering a man who has been robbed and stripped to give up also what is left to him. He heals cowardice by commanding to scorn death. And, in general, you will find that by means of each of these commandments the Word digs up the evil roots from the depths of our hearts as if by a plough, and so through them we are purged from bringing forth thorns.

Therefore He does good to our nature in either way, by promising good things as well as by giving us the teaching that answers this purpose. But if the pursuit of goodness seem irksome to you, compare it with the opposite way of life, and you will find how much more painful it is to be wicked, that is, if you look not to the present but to what comes hereafter. For when one hears the word “hell,” one will no longer avoid sinful pleasures sadly and with difficulty; the fear that is present in the thought alone will suffice to chase away the passions. It might be useful to consider what is implicitly contained in the teaching, so that this may kindle in us a stronger desire. For if the clean of heart are blessed, those with sordid minds are altogether miserable, because they look at the face of the adversary. Further, if the Divine character itself is impressed on the virtuous life, it is clear that the evil life resembles the form and face of the enemy. Now, according to different concepts, God is called by those representing the good, for example, light, life, incorruption, and similar things. By contrast, everything opposed to these is dedicated to the instigator of evil, for example, darkness, death, corruption, and whatever else is like to these. Hence, as we have learned what is an evil life and what is a good one—for we have it in the power of our free will to choose either of these—let us flee from the form of the devil, let us lay aside the evil mask and put on again the Divine Image. Let us become clean of heart, so that we may become blessed when the Divine Image is formed in us through purity of life, in Christ Jesus Our Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Previous · Contents · Next