Catechism of St. Gregory of Nyssa

The readings are taken from St. Gregory of Nyssa's Catechism.  St. Gregory of Nyssa, the third and youngest of the Cappadocians (in fact he was St. Basil's little brother!), is, of the three, the most difficult and complex.  Despite his complexity of thought, his highly philosophical language, and the overall difficulty of following his speech, buried within nearly all of his writing are to be found some of the most shockingly vivid images by which he seeks to initiate his hearers into the great Mystery of the Truth. These chapters deal spcifically with Christ's death, descent, and Resurrection.

XXIV http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf205.xi.ii.xxvi.html

XXV http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf205.xi.ii.xxvii.html

XXVI http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf205.xi.ii.xxviii.html
Other fascinating passages from St. Gregory of Nyssa's Catechism

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf205.xi.ii.xxxvii.html

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf205.xi.ii.xxxix.html

Excerpt from Fr. Geroge Florovsky on St. Gregory's understanding of the Eucharist:

The Eucharist and the Christian Life.

The summit of Christian life is the sacrament of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the food of incorruptibility, the antidote against the poison of death and the "all-healing power." "Our nature had tasted of something ruinous to it and hence we necessarily needed something that would save from decay that which had been destroyed." This antidote is that Body "which proved Itself to be stronger than death," which arose and was glorified. How is it possible that a single body which is separated into portions and distributed to the faithful does not remain divided but, on the contrary, reunites those who have been separated, "becomes whole in each of its portions and thus endures in each who receives it as a whole?"

Gregory answers by comparing the Eucharist to the food which nourishes the physical body. "The Word of God," he writes, "entered into union with human nature. When the Word lived in a body like ours He did not make any innovations in man's physical constitution but He nourished His own body by the customary and proper means and maintained its existence through eating and drinking . . . His body was maintained by bread and thus His body was once bread in reality. This bread was consecrated by the Word dwelling within the body. Therefore, for the same reason as that by which the bread in His body was transformed and received a Divine potency, so now a similar result takes place. For in that case the grace of the Word sanctified the body, the substance of which came from the bread, and so in a way the body which was sanctified was itself bread. So also in this case our bread, in the words of the Apostle, is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer (1 Timothy 4:5), not in such a way that by the process of eating it becomes the Body of the Word but it is changed into the Body of the Word at once."

The Eucharist and the First Stage of Resurrection.

Thus, the flesh which had contained the Word of God receives again a portion of its "own substance," and through this portion this substance "is communicated to every believer and blends it self with their bodies, so that by this union with the immortal, man too shares in incorruptibility." Through the sacrament of the Eucharist all humanity is reunited in Christ and is resurrected. This is, however, only the first stage of resurrection. The Savior's victory over corruption and death is completely accomplished only at the last great resurrection of all mankind.