The Patristic Fathers: St. Gregory of Nyssa: The Beatitudes, Part 1

Gregory gave a total of 8 sermons on the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12). In this session, we discuss his first eight.
Gregory argues that there is only a single beatitude -- God himself. According to Gregory, the qualities Jesus calls blessed are attributes of God, as revealed by His Son. In other words, disciples of Christ are blessed to the degree that they imitate Christ.
Gregory also sees the beatitudes as hierarchical -- that is, there is a progression from the first (poverty of spirit) to the last (persecution and possibly martyrdom).
The session discusses Gregory's view of poverty of spirit (as well as simple poverty), meekness, mourning, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, being merciful, and being pure of heart.