Gregory of Nazianzus
Gregory of Nazianzus, also known as Gregory the Theologian, was an influential theologian and bishop in the 4th century, born near Nazianzus in Cappadocia. He was the son of Bishop Gregory the Elder and was heavily influenced by his devout mother, Nonna, who played a significant role in his early Christian education. Gregory studied rhetoric in Athens, where he became close friends with Basil of Caesarea, forming a partnership that would greatly impact early Christianity. He was ordained as a priest by his father, although he initially resisted this path, leading him to briefly retreat to the desert.
Gregory's later career included his role as bishop in Constantinople, where he worked to counteract Arianism and promote Nicene Christianity. His notable works include a series of orations that defend the orthodox Christian understanding of the Trinity, earning him the title "the Theologian." Gregory's eloquence and rhetorical skill, alongside his deep spirituality, marked him as a key figure in early Christian thought and ecclesiastical politics. Despite facing challenges and disillusionment, particularly during the Second Ecumenical Council, his writings continue to be highly regarded for their theological insight and literary quality. He passed away around 389 or 390, leaving a lasting legacy in Christian theology.
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Gregory of Nazianzus
Greek theologian and poet
- Born: 329 or 330
- Birthplace: Arianzus, Cappadocia, Asia Minor (now in Turkey)
- Died: 389 or 390
- Place of death: Arianzus, Cappadocia, Asia Minor (now in Turkey)
A consummate rhetorician, Gregory produced many orations, poems, and letters that provide much information on the religious and social life of Christianity in the second half of the fourth century. As a theologian, Gregory was influential in the formulation of orthodox doctrine regarding the divinity of the Holy Spirit.
Early Life
Gregory (GREH-gor-ee of nay-zee-AN-zuhs) was born on the family estate of Arianzus, near Nazianzus, the son of Bishop Gregory, the Elder of Nazianzus. His mother, Nonna, a pious woman who had converted her husband to Christianity in 325, was a very formative influence on her son. Young Gregory was educated in the school of rhetoric in Caesarea in Cappadocia, then briefly in the Christian schools of Caesarea in Palestine and of Alexandria, where he became familiar with Christianized Platonism. On his sea journey from Alexandria, his ship encountered a great storm; realizing that he was not yet baptized, Gregory made a solemn vow to spend the rest of his life in the service of the Church if he survived. Finally, he went to the great secular university of Athens, where he spent nine years, becoming an outstanding student of the rhetoricians Prohaeresius and Himerius. There he became an inseparable friend of Basil of Caesarea (later Basil the Great), whom he commemorated at length in his famous autobiographical poem Carmen de vita sua (c. 382; On His Life, 1814).
Life’s Work
In 362, Gregory’s father ordained him a priest, against the young scholar’s own will but by popular demand. Gregory subsequently fled to the desert, where he wrote a famous treatise on the priesthood, Oratio apologetica de fuga sua (Apology for His Flight, 1899), but he soon rejoined his father. He preached his first sermon on Easter Sunday, 362. In this sermon, he likened his father to the patriarch Abraham and himself to Abraham’s son Isaac being led forth to sacrifice. Thereafter, he helped to administer his father’s diocese. His school friend, Basil, now bishop of Caesarea, soon appointed him bishop of Sasima, “a bewitched and miserable little place,” according to Gregory, who refused to take possession of the see. After his father’s death in 374, Gregory administered the see of Nazianzus for a time.
In 375, he retired to a monastery in Seleucia, Isauria, but four years later he was invited to reorganize the dwindling Nicene community in Constantinople, a city rife with Arianism. In 380, Emperor Theodosius the Great formally inducted him into the Church of the Apostles in Constantinople, which he served until the middle of 381. His Forty-second Oration is a speech announcing his resignation from the see of Constantinople, which he characterized as a place “not for priests, but for orators, not for stewards of souls, but for treasurers of money, not for pure offerers of the sacrifice, but for powerful patrons.” Though still in his early fifties, he retired, a prematurely old, sick, and very disillusioned man, to Cappadocia, where he died in 389 or 390.
Gregory’s celebrated speeches defending the orthodox teaching on the Trinity against the heretical Eunomians and Macedonians are collected as the Orationae (362-381; Theological Orations, 1894). They earned for him the appellation “the Theologian.” These orations represent brilliant defenses of the divinity of the Son and the Holy Spirit. In laudem Basilii Magni (381; On St. Basil the Great, 1953) is regarded as the finest piece of Greek rhetoric since the time of Demosthenes. Indeed, in Byzantine times Gregory was often called “the Christian Demosthenes.” Also surviving are panegyrics on his father, his sister, his brother, and the church fathers Saint Athanasius of Alexandria and Saint Cyprian of Carthage.
Gregory’s poetry, though rarely inspired, makes competent use of classical models. It deals didactically with a variety of topics, mainly theological. Some forty of the surviving four hundred poems are dogmatic, dealing with such themes as the Trinity and Divine Providence. Most of the poetry was composed in Gregory’s final years of retirement.
Particularly important among his numerous letters, written in a very engaging classical style, are three—addressed to a certain Cledonius—which present a forceful refutation of the popular contemporary heresy of Apollinarianism. In writing to pagans, Gregory quoted authors such as Homer and Demosthenes as freely as he quoted from the Old and New Testaments when writing to Christians.
Significance
Gregory was a man of great sensitivity and spirituality. His was a contemplative nature, very ill-suited to the rough and tumble of ecclesiastical politics in Constantinople at the time of the Second Ecumenical Council of 381. He had great rhetorical skills, and his lasting achievement is the surviving forty-five orations, evidencing a masterful synthesis of classical rhetoric and Christianity. Gregory was particularly adept at countering the logic-chopping of the later Arians, known as Eunomians. He was obviously well trained in Aristotelian and Stoic logic and dialectic. Moreover, his wide knowledge of Scripture enabled him to outwit his opponents in the deployment and interpretation of scriptural texts. The theological importance of the orations is especially evident in their Trinitarian and christological concerns.
Some of Gregory’s autobiographical poems are as deeply spiritual and revealing as the Confessiones (397-400; Confessions, 1620) of Saint Augustine. A careful reading of the poems dealing with his brief tenure in Constantinople can contribute much to an understanding of the ecclesiastical politics of the time, the shallowness and wiliness of some of his fellow bishops at the council, and Gregory’s dissatisfaction with the compromise statement on the divinity of the Holy Spirit that emerged in 381. One of Gregory’s epitaphs on his father is equally applicable to himself:
If there was one Moses privileged on the mountain
Bibliography
Gregg, Robert C. Consolation Philosophy: Greek and Christian Paideia in Basil and the Two Gregories. Cambridge, Mass.: Philadelphia Patristic Foundation, 1975. A useful comparative study of the three great Cappadocians’ consolatory letters and discourses, with a consideration of their biblical and Hellenistic background. Letters of consolation and panegyrics are examined in the light of the established rhetorical norms of Greek literature.
Gregory of Nazianzus. Three Poems. Translated by Denis M. Meehan, with notes by Thomas P. Halton. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1987. These poems reveal Gregory’s sensitivity and reflect his unrelenting quest for perfection in a world full of intrigue and corruption. Includes an introduction, bibliography, and notes.
Gregory of Nazianzus and Saint Ambrose. Funeral Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen and Saint Ambrose. Translated by Leo P. McCauley et al. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1968. Particularly useful for the translation of In laudem Basilii Magni. Also includes the panegyrics on Gregory’s father, brother, and sister.
Kennedy, George A. Greek Rhetoric Under Christian Emperors. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1994. Chapter 4, “Christianity and Rhetoric,” includes a lengthy and sympathetic study of Gregory, described as “the most important figure in the synthesis of classical rhetoric and Christianity.”
Quasten, Johannes. The Golden Age of Greek Patristic Literature. Vol. 3 in Patrology. 4 vols. Westminster, Md.: Newman Press, 1986-1992. Contains a well-documented and sympathetic account of one characterized as “the humanist among the theologians of the fourth century.” Includes copious bibliographies.
Ruether, Rosemary R. Gregory of Nazianzus, Rhetor and Philosopher. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1969. A careful examination of the Hellenistic influences apparent in Gregory’s thought. Includes a particularly helpful examination of his early training. Ruether shows that Gregory became a master of numerous rhetorical devices taught in fourth century schools.