Gregory of Nazianzus (329/330-389): A disagreement arose between Basil and his predecessor in the government of this church. It is better to pass over in silence its origin and character, but the fact remains. Eusebius [i.e., of Caesarea] was in many respects a man not without nobility, and remarkable for piety, as the persecution of that time and the opposition to him clearly indicated, yet he developed a natural antipathy for Basil. Momus [i.e., the Greek god of grumbling and fault-finding] seizes not only upon the common crowd but on the best of men, since it belongs to God alone to be completely infallible [i.e., strictly not stumbling; hence, in a moral sense free from offense, without fault – cf. Friberg Lexicon] and uninfluenced by the passions. Fathers of the Church, Vol. 22, Funeral Orations by Saint Gregory Nazianzen and Saint Ambrose, On Saint Basil the Great, Bishop of Caesarea, §28 (New York: Fathers of the Church, Inc., 1953), p. 51.
Greek text: Ἐγένετό τις πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα διαφορὰ τῷ πρὸ τούτου καθηγεμόνι τῆς Ἐκκλησίας· τὸ μὲν ὅθεν καὶ ὅπως σιωπᾶν ἄμεινον, πλὴν ἐγένετο· ἀνδρὶ τἆλλα μὲν οὐκ ἀγεννεῖ καὶ θαυμαστῷ τὴν εὐσέβειαν, ὡς ἔδειξεν ὁ τότε διωγμός, καὶ ἡ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔνστασις, ὅμως δέ τι παθόντι πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ἀνθρώπινον· ἅπτεται γὰρ οὐ τῶν πολλῶν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἀρίστων ὁ Μῶμος, ὡς μόνον ἂν εἶναι τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ παντελῶς ἄπταιστον καὶ ἀνάλωτον πάθεσι. Monitum in Orationem XLIII, Funebris oratio in laudem Basilii Magni Caeareae in Cappadocia episcope, §28, PG 36:533
Greek text: Ἐγένετό τις πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα διαφορὰ τῷ πρὸ τούτου καθηγεμόνι τῆς Ἐκκλησίας· τὸ μὲν ὅθεν καὶ ὅπως σιωπᾶν ἄμεινον, πλὴν ἐγένετο· ἀνδρὶ τἆλλα μὲν οὐκ ἀγεννεῖ καὶ θαυμαστῷ τὴν εὐσέβειαν, ὡς ἔδειξεν ὁ τότε διωγμός, καὶ ἡ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔνστασις, ὅμως δέ τι παθόντι πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ἀνθρώπινον· ἅπτεται γὰρ οὐ τῶν πολλῶν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἀρίστων ὁ Μῶμος, ὡς μόνον ἂν εἶναι τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ παντελῶς ἄπταιστον καὶ ἀνάλωτον πάθεσι. Monitum in Orationem XLIII, Funebris oratio in laudem Basilii Magni Caeareae in Cappadocia episcope, §28, PG 36:533
