Virtue is discerned in the mean [meaning 'average' or 'centre' here]. Accordingly, all evil naturally operates in a deficiency or an excess of virtue. In the case of courage, cowardice is the lack of virtue, and rashness is its excess. What is pure of each of these is seen to lie between these corresponding evils and is virtue. Gregory of Nyssa, Life of Moses, Trans. Abraham J. Malherbe and Everett Ferguson (New York: Harper One, 1978), 121.
Here we begin to see some of how Gregory would describe apatheia. Often this is understood as "passionlessness", but for Gregory it is slightly nuanced. That is, apatheia is the "proper use of passions" (what we might understand better today as our desires); in this case it's not being excessive in what we are passionate about it, or at the opposite extreme completely dispassionate about anything. Rather, the "middle ground" is the ideal for Gregory.
Gregory turns to what we might consider an a obscure verse of Scripture for support here in Matthew 10:16; "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.". This is not an uncommon approach for him (and others), given his penchance for allegory, and its accompanying underlying assumption that if there is not a clear "surface" meaning in the text then the "spiritual" meaning should be pursued more vigorously (hence he heads for books like Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes quickly). For Gregory this verse from Matthew demonstrates perfectly the balance that he is advocating for. It's not shrewdness on its own; as in the case of people who treat others like door mats to achieve their own purposes. Neither is it innocence on its own; as in the case of the ones who allow themselves to become door mats in the name of humility! "Rather, it is the disposition which closely unites these two by the mean that is virtue... The disposition observed in the mean between these two is moderation." (ibid, 120)

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