Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. Matthew 7:6
The preface to Gregory of Nyssa Against Eunomius is entitled, “It is useless to attempt to benefit those who will not accept help.” How many times have you tried to help someone generously and yet, they would not receive it? Too often. Should we judge or condemn them? This preface gives wisdom rooted in today’s Scripture for what to do in such situations.
But first, let me put this text in context. Gregory of Nyssa was one of three Cappadocian Fathers who were known for their generosity. The other two were Basil of Ceasarea (mentioned below) and Gregory of Nazianzus. These men were known for giving away their wealth, for starting hospitals and monastic communities, for their prolific writings, and for transforming the faith of the people in their region.
In this excerpt, Gregory of Nyssa recounts that Basil of Caesarea aimed to administer spiritual help rooted in love to Eumonius. But Eumonius would not receive it, as he was torn apart by a secret sin he carried with him. Might those you desire to bless find themselves in a similar situation? Gregory concludes that as we attempt to pull people from “the abyss of misbelief” we must find our strength in Christ.
“It is useless to attempt to benefit those who will not accept help. It seems that the wish to benefit all, and to lavish indiscriminately upon the first comer one’s own gifts, was not a thing altogether commendable, or even free from reproach in the eyes of the many; seeing that the gratuitous waste of many prepared drugs on the incurably-diseased produces no result worth caring about, either in the way of gain to the recipient, or reputation to the would-be benefactor. Rather such an attempt becomes in many cases the occasion of a change for the worse. The hopelessly-diseased and now dying patient receives only a speedier end from the more active medicines; the fierce unreasonable temper is only made worse by the kindness of the lavished pearls, as the Gospel tells us. I think it best, therefore, in accordance with the Divine command, for any one to separate the valuable from the worthless when either have to be given away, and to avoid the pain which a generous giver must receive from one who ‘treads upon his pearl,’ and insults him by his utter want of feeling for its beauty.
This thought suggests itself when I think of one who freely communicated to others the beauties of his own soul, I mean that man of God, that mouth of piety, Basil; one who from the abundance of his spiritual treasures poured his grace of wisdom into evil souls whom he had never tested, and into one among them, Eunomius, who was perfectly insensible to all the efforts made for his good. Pitiable indeed seemed the condition of this poor man, from the extreme weakness of his soul in the matter of the faith, to all true members of the Church; for who is so wanting in feeling as not to pity, at least, a perishing soul? But Basil alone, from the abiding ardour of his love, was moved to undertake his cure, and therein to attempt impossibilities; he alone took so much to heart the man’s desperate condition, as to compose, as an antidote of deadly poisons, his refutation of this heresy, which aimed at saving its author, and restoring him to the Church.
He, on the contrary, like one beside himself with fury, resists his doctor; he fights and struggles; he regards as a bitter foe one who only put forth his strength to drag him from the abyss of misbelief; and he does not indulge in this foolish anger only before chance hearers now and then; he has raised against himself a literary monument to record this blackness of his bile; and when in long years he got the requisite amount of leisure, he was travailling over his work during all that interval with mightier pangs than those of the largest and the bulkiest beasts; his threats of what was coming were dreadful, whilst he was still secretly moulding his conception: but when at last and with great difficulty he brought it to the light, it was a poor little abortion, quite prematurely born. However, those who share his ruin nurse it and coddle it; while we, seeking the blessing in the prophet (“Blessed shall he be who shall take thy children, and shall dash them against the stones” [Psalm 137:9]) are only eager, now that it has got into our hands, to take this puling manifesto and dash it on the rock, as if it was one of the children of Babylon; and the rock must be Christ; in other words, the enunciation of the truth. Only may that power come upon us which strengthens weakness, through the prayers of him who made his own strength perfect in bodily weakness.”
Gregory of Nyssa (335-394) in Dogmatic Treatises, Gregory of Nyssa Against Eunomius, Book 1, Preface, in Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises, Etc. (Grand Rapids: CCEL) 48.
The advice regarding pearls and pigs may not be what you expected. People who are unreceptive to our help, likely have some deep-rooted issue or sin that led to their pitiable state. We must approach them with love. And, should they be unreceptive, let us carefully pursue them with the strength of Christ. On the one hand, like Christ did not give up on us, we must not give up on them.
We don’t, however, cast our pearls indiscriminately, and we don’t worry about the outcomes. In other words, whether or not the proverbial pig embraces the pearl we cast to them is not what we should worry about. We must be people who find our strength to live and love generously from Christ. When we live and love that way, we can transform the faith of regions like the Cappadocian Fathers did.
Three men changed their world and their legacy is legendary. Find two friends and change yours!