Vigils Reading

TO CALL ONESELF A CHRISTIAN

by St Gregory of Nyssa

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They say that a certain showman in the city of Alexandria, having trained

a monkey to dance with some grace, and having dressed him in a dancer’s mask

and a costume suitable for the occasion, and having surrounded him with a

chorus, gained fame by the monkey’s twisting himself in time with the music

and concealing his nature in every way by what he was doing and appeared to

be. While the audience was enthralled by the novelty of the spectacle, one of the

clever persons present, by means of a trick, showed those watching the

performance that the dancer was a monkey.

When everyone was crying out and applauding the gesticulations of the

monkey, who was moving rhythmically with the music, they say that he threw

onto the dancing place some of the sweetmeats which arouse the greediness of

such animals; whereupon the monkey, without a moment’s delay, when he saw

the almonds scattered in front of the chorus, forgetting the dancing and

applause and the elaborate costume, ran after them and grabbed what he found

in the palms of his hands.

And in order that the mask would not get in the way of his mouth, he

energetically thrust aside the disguise with his nails and immediately evoked a

laugh from the spectators in place of the praise and admiration, as he emerged

ugly and ridiculous from the shreds of the mask. Thereupon, just as the

assumed form was not sufficient for that creature to be considered a man, once

his nature was disclosed, in the incident of the almonds, so those individuals not

truly shaping their own natures by faith will easily be disclosed in the toils of the

devil as being something other than what they are called. For, instead of a fig or

an almond or some such thing, vanity and love of honor and love of gain and

love of pleasure, and whatever else the evil assembly of the devil places before

greedy men instead of sweetmeats, easily bring to light the ape-like souls who,

through pretense and imitation, play the role of the Christian and then remove

the mask of moderation or meekness or some other virtue in a moment of

personal crisis.

It is necessary, therefore, for us to understand what the name “Christian”

means, for then, perhaps we will become what the term implies and not be

shown up by the one who perceives what is hidden, namely, that we have

disguised ourselves by mere assent, and by the pretense of the name alone when

we are actually something contrary to what we appear to be.