Insights on hatred, envy and hypocrisy in Gregory of Nyssa’s homilies

Abstract

The Nyssen’s corpus of homilies offers very concrete reflections on a number of transgressions that were (and still are) popular in human actions. Three of these are hatred, envy and hypocrisy; they may be analysed together because all three stop man from being happy with what he possesses. They are mostly discussed quite early in the bishop of Nyssa’s career, in the Homilies on the Beatitudes, but they are revisited in some of his later homilies and works as well, implying that his reflection on these three sins was spread throughout most of his career as a preacher and a bishop. Gregory, however, does not stop at discussing the causes and the effects of these transgressions; he also offers a solution regarding how they may be healed.