Taken from the Book: “Life After Death”,
By Metropolitan of Nafpaktos Hierotheos Vlachos,
p. 94 - 108
Before we finish this chapter, I
think we should look at the subject of the death of infants according to
the teaching of St. Gregory of Nyssa. This subject as he develops it and
as we shall present it in what follows, has a bearing on what has been
said in this chapter about death and the separation of the soul from the
body. On the one hand, it will be a summing up of the basic points in
the teaching of the Fathers about the separation of the soul from the
body which we have been discussing, and on the other hand, several
further interesting aspects which concern us will be brought out.
There is a small treatise by St. Gregory of Nyssa
entitled "Concerning infants snatched away prematurely", that is to say,
taken from life before they had tasted the life for which they were
born. The treatise was written for Governor Hierios of Cappadocia, who
had asked St. Gregory of Nyssa what we ought to know about those who
depart from life very early, whose death is joined with their birth
[Gregory
of Nyssa: On infants early deaths, NPNFns, vol. 5, p. 372-382.]
In setting out to elaborate this
theme, St. Gregory of Nyssa takes the opportunity to praise the governor
in fine words, calling him an "excellent" and "esteemed head". Beyond
the expressions of polite address, it appears from the introduction that
the Governor of Cappadocia had many qualities and gifts. He was
distinguished by an indifference to material wealth as well as by an
interest in men' s souls, which he held in the treasury of his love. In
other words, he loved people and was not characterised by self-seeking.
Likewise it appears from the
introduction to the text that at the time of writing this treatise St.
Gregory of Nyssa was advanced in years. He likens himself to an old
horse that is staying outside the racing stadium. However, he declares
that he will strain his attention to answer the Governor's request.
Among Hieros' s other gifts was
that he sought to be informed about the working of the divine economy.
He was asking why one person's life extends into old age while another'
s is finished just as he is entering life.
The problem is really existential.
St. Gregory puts it very beautifully. At his birth a human being enters
on the scene of life, draws a breath of air, beginning the process of
living with a cry of pain, pays the tribute of a tear to Nature, just
tastes life's sorrows before any sweets have been his, and before his
joints have consolidated, tender as he is, he dies, perhaps because he
was left exposed as a newborn child, or because he has suffocated, or
because some illness has suddenly put a stop to his life. Along with
this fact, the question is also put as to whether the infant will be
judged by the Judge like other people, whether he will receive a reward
cooled by the dew of benediction, or whether he will be burned in the
purifying fire. And this uncertainty arises because the child has done
nothing in his life, neither bad nor good. For where there is no giving,
there is no giving in return. Consequently, if there is no action and
choice in infants, there is no reason for them to earn what we are
hoping for. If the infant enters the Kingdom of Heaven in spite of this,
then it is in a more advantageous position than those who have lived and
struggled in their lives. If we think in this way, everyone is better
off not to live long.
After having pinpointed the
questions and problems, on to give an exhaustive answer. Of course he
confesses from the start that these great topics belong to the
unsearchable thoughts of God, and therefore he exclaims with the
Apostle: "How rich and deep are the wisdom and knowledge of God! How
inscrutable are his judgements, how undiscoverable his ways! Who has
ever known the mind of the Lord?" (Rom. 11, 34-35). Nevertheless he
proceeds to the matter in hand, because he believes in the divine grace
which illumines all who have it. Without presenting his thoughts
rhetorically in antithetical words, he proceeds to deal with the topic
by a rational sequence.
The first point he makes is
that human nature comes from God. Furthermore, the cause of the origin
of all beings is in God and not in themselves. Uncreated nature, which
is God's, surpasses every sense of dimension; it neither increases nor
decreases, and indeed it is beyond any definition. By constrast, created
nature is changeable, that is to say it increases and decreases. Human
nature is composite, made up of heterogeneous elements, the noetic and
the sensible, and it is a living image of the divine and transcendent
power. Noetic nature belongs to the angelic and bodiless powers, which
dwell in supramundane space, because that space is the most suitable for
their bodiless nature. Here St. Gregory is speaking about the body which
angels have, which he calls "a heavenly body subtle and light and
ever-moving", because noetic nature is fine, pure, weightless and
ever-moving. By contrast, sensible nature is not analogous to the noetic.
Therefore in order that the earth might not be unfortunate and lack an
inheritance from noetic nature, God created mankind, so that the noetic
and the sensible might be united in his nature. In other words, man is a
summing up of the whole creation, since he is composed of noetic and
sensible.
The second point is that aim of the creation of
man is that God should be glorified by noetic nature in the whole
creation. Just as the body is maintained in life by the foods of the
earth precisely because it is earthly, so there exists also an
intelligible life by which our noetic
nature is maintained. Just as the food going in and out of our body
leaves a power in it, so also the noetic is given life by its
participation in essential being.
Therefore the life suitable for
noetic nature is participation in God. Each thing has its appropriate
organ. The appropriate organ for the enjoyment of light is man's eye and
not his finger or any other member of the human body. So it is that
vision of God takes place through the noetic in man. Therefore life is
participation and communion with God. And naturally this participation
is knowledge of God at the depth at which the soul is able to contain
it. Ignorance of God, of course, means non-participation in God.
Withdrawal from this life is a
fall and ignorance. Since the fall of man, God has been working to cure
the evil in us. It is evil to be withdrawn from God and to have no
communion with Him, and the cure for this is to return into life again
and attain communion with God. What is good then is to cure the noetic
aspect of the soul, and of course whoever does not turn to the mystery
of the Gospel word is ignorant of how to cure it.
What St. Gregory of Nyssa is
pointing out here -and I think it is very important- is that the
appropriate instrument for communing with God is the noetic part of the
soul. It is through this that man participates in God and acquires
knowledge of Him, which is life for him. But because the fall is man's
alienation from life and his illness, which is also his death, the
noetic part of his soul needs to be cured so that it may see the Light
and attain participation with God.
Human nature was formed by God so that it might hope for
this life and be brought towards it. This is the
purpose for which man was created, to be united with God. Thus the
enjoyment of this life and the fulfilment of man's purpose, which is
theosis, is not a repayment and a reward, but a natural condition. And
not to participate in God is not a punishment, but an illness of man's
soul and of his whole being.
St. Gregory takes our eyes as an
example. The capacity of our eyes to see is not a prize and a reward,
but a natural condition of healthy eyes. And the inability to
participate in vision is not a condemnation and the result of
punishment, but a man's illness. Therefore the happy life is innate and
proper "to those who have purified their senses". But those who have
spiritually unclean eyes and do not know God do not participate in God.
This is not a punishment, but a natural state of illness of the noetic
part of their souls.
The third point, which is
connected with the preceding ones, is that the good which is hoped for
is by nature proper to the human race. And naturally this pleasure is,
in one way, called a repayment. Enjoyment of this life is not a matter
of justice, but a natural state of health of the soul. St. Gregory says
this because of the way the question was put: How will the infant be
judged or where he will be sent, since he did neither evil nor good in
his life? St. Gregory says that the problem is not to be put in this way
since it is not a matter of justice, but of a natural state of the
health or illness of human nature.
This can be understood by the use of an example. Let us
suppose that two men have an eye disease, and one of them submits to the
cure and takes whatever medical science advises, even if it is
disagreeable, while
the
other not only does not accept any advice from the doctor, but also
lives intemperately. The first, for a natural reason, will enjoy his
light, while the second, for a natural reason, will be deprived of his
light.
This example shows clearly that it
is proper to human nature to enjoy that life, while the illness of
ignorance prevails in those who live according to the flesh. The person
who cures and purifies his spiritual eyes and washes away the ignorance,
which is the impurity of his soul's spiritual perception, attains this
natural life. The other, since he evades purification and lives with
illusory pleasures, making the illness difficult to cure, is estranged
from the natural, lives a life contrary to nature and becomes a
nonparticipant in this natural life which is communion with God.
If this is the natural course and
natural ending of a man, in whom, according to his way of life, the eye
of his soul is either cured or not, the case is somehow different with
the infant. Since he has not had the illness in the first place and does
not need to be purified and cured, he is living according to nature and
therefore, as he is inexperienced in evil, he is not prevented by any
illness of the soul from enjoying participation in the Light.
This teaching of St. Gregory of Nyssa gives us the
opportunity of underlining here that the soul of man is not impure at
birth, but pure. Man from his birth experiences illumination of the nous.
Therefore we see that even infants can have noetic prayer, corresponding
of course to the images and representations of their age. When a person
is created, his nous is in a state of illumination. We have observed
many times that there are
infants who pray, even in their sleep. A monk of the Holy Mountain says
that when small children turn their attention in some direction and
laugh without a reason, it means that they see their angel. What happens
in the lives of saints, for whom it is altogether natural to be with the
angels, happens in little children.
Therefore orthodox theology does
not teach what theology in the West says, that man inherits the guilt of
the ancestral sin. For we believe that at birth a person has a pure nous:
his nous is illuminated, which is the natural state. The inheritance of
ancestral sin, as we said in another place, lies in the fact that the
body inherits corruptibility and mortality, which, with the passsage of
time, and as the child grows and passions develop, darkens the noetic
part of his soul. Indeed the developed passions linked with
corruptibility and mortality and darkness of the environment darken the
noetic part of the souls of children.
There is the problem of what
happens at holy Baptism. That is to say, since infants have a pure nous
which is in a state of illumination, and they have noetic prayer, then
why do we baptise them?
The answer, as we see in the whole patristic tradition,
is that by holy Baptism we are not getting rid of guilt from ancestral
sin, but we are being grafted on to the Body of Christ, the Church, and
are acquiring the power to conquer death. This is how we understand the
baptism of babies. We baptise them so that they may become members of
the Church, members of the Body of Christ, that they may pass over
death, overcome the garments of skin, decay and mortality. That is to
say that as they grow, whenever the nous becomes darkened by
passions and the darkness of the surroundings, they may have the ability
to conquer death in Christ, to overcome the passions and to purify the
noetic part of their souls once more.
If Baptism works in infants in
this way, adults are prepared for Baptism by purification of the heart
from passions. Then, through holy Chrism, illumination of the nous is
received. Furthermore, through holy Baptism they become members of the
Church and, being united with Christ and participating in the
sacraments, they acquire the power to defeat death and attain
deification. The deepest purpose of Baptism for both infants and adults
is to attain deification, which is achieved only in Christ and in the
Church.
Since this point is quite crucial,
I may be permitted to quote the words of St. Gregory of Nyssa about the
purity of the souls of infants: "Whereas the innocent babe has no such
plague before its soul's eyes obscuring its measure of light, it
continues to exist in that natural life; it does not need the soundness
that comes from purgation, because it never admitted the plague into its
soul at all". The infant's nous is pure, it has not been ill, it is
distinguished by health and the natural state and therefore is not
prevented at all from partaking of the divine Light.
St. Gregory of Nyssa always makes use of examples from
the present life to explain the life which is to come. He states that
there is an analogy between the present way of life and that of the
future. Just as infants are suckled and fed with milk at first, but
later are fed with other foods one after the other at the appropriate
time, it is the same with the soul. It always takes part in life in
the
fitting order and sequence. This was said by the Apostle Paul, who first
fed the Corinthians with milk and then gave solid food to those who
reached the intelligible age.
There is a difference between the
infant and the mature man in what pleases them. The man is pleased by
his enterprises, by social recognition, by gifts and honours from
others, by family life, by entertainments, shows, hunting, and so on,
while the infant is pleased by milk, the nurse's embrace, and the gentle
rocking which brings peaceful sleep.
The same is the case with
spiritual age, in relation to spiritual blessings. Those who have
nourished their souls with virtues in this life will in the future life
enjoy divine comfort in proportion to the habit which they have acquired
in this life. However, the soul which has not tasted virtue but is also
not sickened with evil can also share the good to the depth to which it
can contain the eternal blessings, empowered by the vision of Him Who
is.
Thus infants, although
inexperienced in evil, will share in divine knowledge, divine light,
empowered by the vision of God, by divine grace; and naturally with the
vision of God they will advance to more perfect knowledge. Actually God
manifests Himself to all, "giving himself as much as the person in
question accepts".
St. Gregory of Nyssa's thought is that the soul by its
nature is led towards the good, towards participating in the divine
Light. According to his receptivity a person receives divine grace and
divine enrichment. This is independent of his physical age and the
abundance or nonexistence of virtues. It is within this perspective that
one should see a person's future state, and not compare the
virtuous life of the mature person with the life of the infant and the
immature person. He who undertakes such a comparison is himself
immature, for he shows that he does not have theological arguments.
The fourth point which St.
Gregory analyses is why God permits a baby to die at such an age. Having
analysed previously that as far as participation in the divine Light is
concerned, the number of years which we have lived does not play a great
role, he now goes on to explain why God permits sudden departure from
this life.
In answer to this question he says
that no one can put the blame on God in cases where women murder their
children because of illicit pregnancy. But as to the cases in which
infants leave this world through some infirmity even though their
parents have cared for them and prayed for them, we must look at them
within God's Providence. For perfect providence is that which does not
simply heal the sufferings which have taken place, but it protects the
person from even tasting things which would happen in the future.
Whoever knows the future, as is the case with God, will naturally
prevent the baby from growing up, so that he will not be brought to a
bad end. Thus in the latter cases it is precisely because He sees the
infant's bad future that God does not permit him to live. God does this
out of love and charity, without essentially depriving him of any of the
future blessings, as we have seen.
In order to make this economy of God understandable, St.
Gregory offers a beautiful and descriptive example. Let us suppose that
there is a rich table with many appetizing foods. Let us go on to
suppose that there
is
a supervisor who, on the one hand knows the qualities of each food -
which one is harmful and unsuitable and which is suitable for eating -
and on the other hand is very familiar with the temperament of each
dinner guest. Let us still further suppose that this supervisor has
absolute authority to permit one person to eat the food and prevent
another, so that each one will eat what is suitable for his temperament
and the sick person will therefore not be tormented nor the healthy one
fall into loathing because of excess of food. If the supervisor should
find out that one person had become drunk from much food and drink, or
another was beginning to be drunk, he would get him out of that
particular place. There is the case of a man who was put out of that
place and turned against the supervisor, to accuse him of depriving him
of the good things through envy. But if he were to look carefully at
those who remained and suffered from sickness and headaches because of
drunkenness, and expressed themselves with ugly words, then he would
thank the supervisor for saving him from the pain of overeating.
This example matches human life.
Human life is a table at which there are abundant foods. Life, however,
is not sweet as honey, but also has various disagreeable foods such as
salt and vinegar, which make human life difficult. Some foods arouse
boasting, others make those who share them go into a frenzy, losing
their heads, and in others they cause sickness. The supervisor of the
table, who is God, takes away from that table promptly him who behaved
properly in order not to be like those who suffer from excess of
pleasure because of their gluttony.
In this way divine providence
cures illnesses before they are yet manifest. Since God, with His
prognostic power, knows that the newborn child will make bad use of the
world when he grows up, He removes him from the banquet of life. The
newborn child is detached from life so that he will not use his gluttony
at the table of this life. On this point too we see the great love and
philanthropy of God.
The fifth point, which
results from the foregoing, is the question of why God makes a
distinction in His choice, why he takes one away providentially, while
he lets the other become so bad that we wish that he had never been
born. Why is the baby taken from this life providentially while his
father is left, who drinks at the banquet until his old age, strewing
his evil dregs on himself as well as on his fellow-drinkers?
In answer to this question he says
that what it means is a word "to the most grateful", to those who are
thankful to God and, naturally, are well disposed. Besides, these are
mysteries which man's reason cannot grasp, precisely because God's
"reason" is different from man's reason.
St. Gregory maintains that what
God arranges is not fortuitous and without reason. God is word, wisdom,
virtue and truth, and He will not accept what is unrelated to virtue and
truth. Thus sometimes, for reasons which we have mentioned, babies are
snatched from life early, and sometimes God permits something different,
because He has a better end in view.
It is also permitted and granted
by God that evil people should remain in life so that some benefits may
be derived. Referring to the Israelites, he says that God permitted
Egypt to oppress them in order to teach the Israelite people, just as He
also brought the Israelites out of Egypt so that they would not become
like the Egyptians and acquire their customs. With poundings on the
anvil even the hardest iron, which does not soften in fire, can take the
form of a useful tool.
Another argument is dealt with as
well. Some people maintain that not all people in this life have
banished the fruits of wickedness, nor have the virtuous benefited from
the sweating labours of virtue. To this St. Gregory of Nyssa replies
that the virtuous will also rejoice in the next life, comparing their
own blessings with the loss suffered by those condemned. This is said
from the point of view that the comparison of opposites becomes "an
addition of pleasure and an increase for the virtuous". To be sure, it
does not mean that they rejoice at the condemnation of other men, but
they thank God for their salvation, because they are experiencing the
happiness of virtue in contrast to the unhappiness of sin and the
passions.
Therefore infants are snatched
away from life prematurely in order that they do not fall into more
dreadful evils. If some live and become evil, this has other reasons
which are in the Providence and wisdom of God. Nevertheless some
benefits will come, since God does not do anything without a reason and
a purpose.
The fact is that the infants who depart from life
prematurely neither find themselves in a painful state nor become equal
to those who have struggled to be purified by every virtue. They are in
God's Providence. Anyway, the journey to God and participation in the
uncreated Light is a natural state of the soul, and infants cannot be
deprived of this, because by the power of divine grace they can attain
deification.
