Reference address : https://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/physis/nyssa-man/14.asp?pg=2

ELPENOR - Home of the Greek Word

Three Millennia of Greek Literature
Physis : World Creation  

Gregory of Nyssa : THE MAKING OF MAN

That the Mind is Not in a Part of the Body; Wherein Also is a Distinction of the Movements of the Body and of the Soul

Patrologia Graeca 44.173-6  * Greek Fonts

ELPENOR EDITIONS IN PRINT

Page 2

But since our argument discovered in our vital faculty three different varieties-one which receives nourishment without perception, another which at once receives nourishment and is capable of perception, but is without the reasoning activity, and a third rational, perfect, and co-extensive with the whole faculty-so that among these varieties the advantage belongs to the intellectual,-let no one suppose on this account that in the compound nature of man there are three souls welded together, contemplated each in its own limits, so that one should think man's nature to be a sort of conglomeration of several souls. The true and perfect soul is naturally one, the intellectual and immaterial, which mingles with our material nature by the agency of the senses; but all that is of material nature, being subject to mutation and alteration, will, if it should partake of the animating power, move by way of growth: if, on the contrary, it should fall away from the vital energy, it will reduce its motion to destruction. Thus, neither is there perception without material substance, nor does the act of perception take place without the intellectual faculty.

 

Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τρεῖς κατὰ τὴν ζωτικὴν δύναμιν διαφορὰς ὁ λόγος εὗρε͵ τὴν μὲν τρεφομένην χωρὶς αἰσθήσεως͵ τὴν δὲ τρεφομένην μὲν καὶ αὐξανομένην͵ ἀμοιροῦσαν δὲ τῆς λογικῆς ἐνεργείας͵ τὴν δὲ λογικὴν καὶ τελείαν δι' ἁπάσης διήκουσαν τῆς δυνάμεως͵ ὡς καὶ ἐν ἐκείναις εἶναι καὶ τῆς νοερᾶς τὸ πλέον ἔχειν, μηδεὶς διὰ τούτων ὑπονοείτω τρεῖς συγκεκροτῆσθαι ψυχὰς ἐν τῷ ἀνθρωπίνῳ συγκρίματι͵ ἐν ἰδίαις περιγραφαῖς θεωρουμένας͵ ὥστε συγκρότημά τι πολλῶν ψυχῶν τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν εἶναι νομίζειν. Ἀλλ' ἡ μὲν ἀληθής τε καὶ τελεία ψυχὴ μία τῇ φύσει ἐστίν͵ ἡ νοερά τε καὶ ἄϋλος͵ ἡ διὰ τῶν αἰσθήσεων τῇ ὑλικῇ καταμιγνυμένη φύσει. Τὸ δὲ ὑλῶδες ἅπαν ἐν τροπῇ τε καὶ ἀλλοιώσει κείμενον͵ εἰ μὲν μετέχοι τῆς ψυχούσης δυνάμεως, κατὰ αὔξησιν κινηθήσεται, εἰ δὲ ἀποπέσοι τῆς ζωτικῆς ἐνεργείας͵ εἰς φθορὰν ἀναλύσει τὴν κίνησιν. Οὔτε οὖν αἴσθησις χωρὶς ὑλικῆς οὐσίας͵ οὔτε τῆς νοερᾶς δυνάμεως χωρίς͵ αἰσθήσεως ἐνέργεια γίνεται.

First Page of this chapter

Previous chapter  *  Index  *  Next chapter


Cf. St Basil the Great, On the Creation of the World (Hexaemeron)

Septuagint Genesis Septuagint Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomomy Septuagint Psalms Septuagint Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom, Sirach Septuagint Isaiah, Jeremiah, Baruch, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel Septuagint Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi The Authentic Greek New Testament Bilingual New Testament I

Gregory of Nyssa Home Page

WORLD CREATION Start Page

Learned Freeware

Reference address : https://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/physis/nyssa-man/14.asp?pg=2