Gregory of Nazianzus

• 1. Introduction

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  Gregory of Nazianzus once compared himself to the Prophet Jonah, begging to be thrown overboard. "Seize me and throw me," he told a council of 150 bishops in 381, offering to sacrifice his own office for the sake of unity. He was, by then, Archbishop of Constantinople, a position he had never wanted and would soon abandon. Born around 329 in southwest Cappadocia, this classically trained orator would be remembered as the most accomplished rhetorical stylist of his age. He is one of only three men in the life of the Orthodox Church ever granted the epithet "Theologian." Yet his life was a long argument with himself. Should he be a rhetor or a philosopher? A hermit or a public minister? Should he follow his own path, or the one his father and his closest friend had mapped for him? The answers came slowly, and at great personal cost.

• 2. A Storm At Sea

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  On a ship bound for Athens, a violent storm nearly ended Gregory's life before it began. Terrified, he prayed to Christ that if he were delivered, he would dedicate his life to His service. The vow would haunt him for decades. He was the son of Greek parents, born on the family estate of Karbala outside the village of Arianzus, near Nazianzus. His parents, Gregory of Nazianzus the Elder and Nonna of Nazianzus, were wealthy land-owners. In 325, Nonna converted her husband, a Hypsistarian, to Christianity, and within a few years he was ordained bishop of Nazianzus. The young Gregory first studied at home with his uncle Amphylokhios, alongside his brother Caesarius. He then pursued advanced rhetoric and philosophy in Nazianzus, Caesarea, Alexandria, and finally Athens. There he studied under the famous rhetoricians Himerius and Proaeresius. There too he met a fellow student named Basil of Caesarea, and a young man named Flavius Claudius Julianus, who would one day rule Rome as the emperor Julian.

• 3. An Act Of Tyranny

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  In 361, Gregory's own father ordained him a presbyter against his wishes, and Gregory called it an "act of tyranny." He had been considering a monastic existence, and resented being forced to choose between priestly service and solitude. Within days he fled, joining Basil at Annesoi to live as an ascetic. Basil persuaded him to return and assist his father, which he did. Arriving back at Nazianzus, Gregory found the Christian community split by theological differences and his father accused of heresy by local monks. He healed the division through a blend of personal diplomacy and oratory. When Emperor Julian publicly turned against Christianity, Gregory answered with his Invectives Against Julian, composed between 362 and 363. The work argues that Christianity would overcome imperfect rulers through love and patience, a public manifestation of theosis, the process of deification leading to mystical union with God. Julian resolved in late 362 to prosecute his Christian critics, but he died the following year on campaign against the Persians. His successor Jovian was an avowed Christian, and the threat of persecution lifted.

• 4. A Pokey Little Hole

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  Basil ordained Gregory Bishop of Sasima in 372, and Gregory despised the place. He described it as an "utterly dreadful, pokey little hole; a paltry horse-stop on the main road... devoid of water, vegetation, or the company of gentlemen." Basil had created the see only to strengthen his hand against Anthimus, bishop of Tyana, and Gregory knew it. He made little effort to administer the diocese, telling Basil he preferred a contemplative life. By late 372 he returned to Nazianzus to help his dying father, refusing to resume his post. He complained that he had no intention of remaining a pawn to advance Basil's interests. Around this time his sister, Saint Gorgonia, died, and he preached a eulogy at her funeral. After the deaths of his mother and father in 374, Gregory administered the Diocese of Nazianzus but refused to be named bishop. He donated most of his inheritance to the needy and withdrew at the end of 375 to a monastery at Seleukia. There he learned that Basil had died. Too ill to attend the funeral, he wrote a letter of condolence to Basil's brother, Gregory of Nyssa, and composed twelve memorial poems for his departed friend.

• 5. The Chapel Called Anastasia

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  His cousin Theodosia offered Gregory a villa in Constantinople, and he turned much of it into a church, naming it Anastasia, "a scene for the resurrection of the faith." The invitation had come in 379 from the Antioch synod and its archbishop, Meletius, who asked him to win the city for Nicene orthodoxy. From this little chapel he delivered five powerful discourses on Nicene doctrine, explaining the nature of the Trinity and the unity of the Godhead. Refuting those who denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit, he argued: "Christ is born, the Holy Spirit is His Forerunner. Christ is baptized, the Spirit bears witness to this... Christ ascends, the Spirit takes His place." The crowds grew, and so did the danger. On the vigil of Easter in 379, an Arian mob burst into the church during worship, wounding Gregory and killing another bishop. Worse came from a friend. The philosopher Maximus, in secret alliance with Peter II of Alexandria, tried to seize Gregory's position and have himself ordained. Gregory, shocked, resolved to resign, but his faithful followers ejected Maximus and kept him in place. The episode left him branded a provincial simpleton, unable to handle the intrigues of the imperial city.

• 6. Throne And Resignation

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  The arrival of Emperor Theodosius in 380 settled everything in Gregory's favor. A steadfast supporter of Nicene orthodoxy, Theodosius expelled Demophilus of Constantinople and enthroned Gregory as bishop at the Basilica of the Apostles. In the spring of 381, the emperor convened the First Council of Constantinople, attended by 150 Eastern bishops. After the presiding bishop, Meletius of Antioch, died, Gregory was chosen to lead the council. Hoping to reconcile West with East, he offered to recognize Paulinus II as Patriarch of Antioch. Then the Egyptian and Macedonian bishops arrived late and refused to accept him, arguing that his transfer from the See of Sasima was canonically illegitimate. Physically exhausted and fearing he was losing the confidence of both bishops and emperor, Gregory chose to step down rather than deepen the division. He delivered a dramatic speech asking Theodosius to release him from his offices. The emperor, moved, applauded and granted the request. Gregory delivered a final address and departed. He returned to Cappadocia, resumed the bishopric of Nazianzus, fought local Apollinarian heretics, and began composing De Vita Sua, his autobiographical poem. By the end of 383, too feeble for episcopal duties, he installed Eulalius as bishop and withdrew into solitude at Arianzus.

• 7. Coining A Word

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  Gregory needed a new word, and he said so plainly. "The Holy Spirit is truly Spirit, coming forth from the Father indeed but not after the manner of the Son, for it is not by generation but by procession, since I must coin a word for the sake of clearness." He was the first to use the idea of procession to describe the relationship between the Spirit and the Godhead. He insisted that Jesus did not cease to be God when he became a man, and that Christ was fully human, including a full human soul. Against the Neo-Arian claim that the Son is anomoios, unlike the Father, and the Semi-Arian claim that the Son is homoiousios, like the Father, Gregory and his fellow Cappadocians held to the Nicaean doctrine of homoousia, the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father. With Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa, he became known as one of the Cappadocian Fathers. Together they argued that God's nature is unknowable, developed the framework of three hypostases united in a single Godhead, and explained theosis as the imitation of the incarnate Son. He was also a prolific poet. The eighth book of the Greek Anthology contains 254 of his epigrams.

• 8. Relics And Remembrance

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  On the 27th of November 2004, Pope John Paul II returned Gregory's relics to Istanbul, more than eight centuries after Crusaders had carried them off. He had died at his family estate on the 25th of January 390, after six peaceful years in retirement, though the exact date remains unknown. His great nephew Nichobulos served as his literary executor, and a cousil named Eulalios published several of his works in 391. By 400, Rufinius was translating his orations into Latin, and the Council of Ephesus cited them as authoritative in 431. In 451, the Council of Chalcedon designated him Theologus, Theologian, a title shared only with John the Apostle and Symeon the New Theologian. The Catholic Church numbers him among the Doctors of the Church and the four Great Greek Church Fathers. The Eastern Orthodox revere him as one of the Three Holy Hierarchs, with Basil of Caesarea and John Chrysostom. His relics traveled far. Buried first at Nazianzus, they were moved to the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople in 950, looted during the Fourth Crusade in 1204, and carried to Rome. They now rest in the Patriarchal St. George's Cathedral in Istanbul, in the Fanar, the Vatican keeping only a small portion of each.