St. Gregory of Nazianzus

St. Gregory of Nazianzus (born c. 330, Arianzus, near Nazianzus, in Cappadocia, Asia Minor [now in Turkey]—died c. 389, Arianzus; Eastern feast day January 25 and 30; Western feast day January 2) was a 4th-century Church Father whose defense of the doctrine of the Trinity (God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) made him one of the greatest champions of orthodoxy against Arianism.

Gregory’s father, also named Gregory, was converted to the Christian faith from the monotheistic sect known as the Hypsistarii under the influence of his Christian wife. He was soon afterward consecrated bishop of his native city, Nazianzus (the exact location of which is not known; Cappadocia was in eastern Anatolia), by bishops on their way to the Council of Nicaea in 325. Born some years later, the younger Gregory thus grew up in a Christian and clerical family. Nevertheless, he received a classical as well as religious education, studying first at Caesarea, the provincial capital, at least briefly at Alexandria, and finally at Athens (c. 351–356 ce). He was a close friend of St. Basil the Great, his fellow student and later bishop of Caesarea, and in his panegyric at Basil’s death in 379 he gave a vivid picture of student life of the period. Among Gregory’s other contemporaries as a student at Athens was the future Roman emperor Julian, who in his brief two-year reign would attempt to revive paganism. Soon after returning to Cappadocia, Gregory joined the monastic community that Basil had founded at Annesi in Pontus. During this time, in order to preserve the thought of the great Alexandrian theologian Origen, many of whose speculative views were under attack, the two friends collaborated in editing the Philocalia, an anthology of theological and devotional selections from the works of Origen.

In 362 Gregory accepted ordination to the priesthood to assist his father, though he went to Annesi for further preparation and remained there until the following Easter. For the next 10 years he worked at Nazianzus supporting Basil—who was first presbyter and from 370 to 379 bishop of Caesarea—in his struggles with personal rivals, with Arians (who denied the divinity of Christ and were semi-Origenists), and with the Arian emperor Valens. Basil was attempting to retain control of the church in at least part of the new province of Cappadocia Secunda, which had been created by Valens to diminish orthodox authority. Gregory, under pressure from Basil to assist him in this conflict, reluctantly accepted consecration (372) to the episcopate for the village of Sasima. He never took possession of the bishopric, however, and withdrew with a sense of grievance against Basil for having presumed on their friendship. He briefly administered the church of Nazianzus again after his father’s death in 374, but when a successor was installed in that bishopric, Gregory retired to a monastery in Isauria, in south-central Anatolia.

The death of Valens in 378 at the Battle of Adrianople ended the imperial patronage of Arianism. After Basil died on the following January 1, Gregory became the outstanding spokesman in Asia Minor of the Nicene party that accepted the decrees of the Council of Nicaea of 325. He was invited to take charge of the Nicene congregation at Constantinople, a city torn by sectarian strife. His Chapel of the Resurrection (Greek: Anastasia) became the scene of the birth of Byzantine (from Byzantium, the earlier name of Constantinople) Orthodoxy—i.e., the post-Nicene theology and practice of the majority of Eastern Christianity. Among the sermons he preached there, the Five Theological Orations are a striking presentation of trinitarian doctrine, and his memorial addresses and others on special occasions are important historical sources. Though Gregory wrote no commentaries, he was famous for his deep knowledge of Scripture; among his hearers at Constantinople was the biblical scholar St. Jerome, who gained a greater understanding of the Greek scriptures from Gregory. A religious adventurer, Maximus the Cynic, however, was set up as a rival to Gregory by bishops from Egypt, who broke into the Anastasia at night for a clandestine consecration.

When the new emperor, Theodosius, came east in 380, the Arian bishop of Constantinople, Demophilus, was expelled, and Gregory was able to take over the Great Church (probably the earlier basilica on the site of the present-day Hagia Sophia). The council (later recognized as the second ecumenical council) that met at Constantinople in 381 was prepared to acknowledge Gregory as bishop of Constantinople; but on the arrival of Bishop Timothy of Alexandria, his position was challenged on technical grounds. Weary of disputes and intrigues, Gregory withdrew after an eloquent farewell discourse. The council, however, supported his policy, condemning old and new heresies, denying all validity to the consecration of Maximus, and forbidding bishops to interfere outside their own areas of authority (a step toward the system of patriarchates). It endorsed the trinitarian doctrine of three equal Persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) as taught by Gregory and expressed in the “creed commonly called the Nicene,” which is still regarded as authoritative in East and West alike, including most Protestant churches.

For the rest of his life Gregory lived quietly on the family property at Arianzus near Nazianzus, except for a brief period as administrator of the Church of Nazianzus during a vacancy. He continued his interest in church affairs through correspondence, even during one year when he took a vow of silence for Lent. He wrote to his successor, the amiable but ineffective Nectarius, and others against the heresy of Apollinaris, who denied the existence of a human soul in Christ.

His writings of the period include a long autobiographical poem (commonly referred to as Carmen de se ipso, “Song Concerning One-self ”) and many short poems, mostly on religious subjects. His preserved works include a number of sermons, not improperly called orations, and a large collection of letters. His death is dated according to a statement of St. Jerome.