Born at Arianz, near Nazianz, a market town in
southwestern Cappadocia. His father served as Bishop of Nazianz and his friend,
Gregory of Nyssa were among the few bishops who chose marriage over celibacy.
Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa and Basil of Caesarea, along with Gregory of Nazianz
are known as the "Three Cappadocians," great defenders of the faith and most
especially the doctrine of the Trinity. Gregory is best known for his profound
theological insights that led to his being given the same title of St. John the
Apostle, namely, 'the Divine.' His work is assembled under three titles, namely,
Orations, Letters and Poems. Gregory of Nazianz was as mild and
gentle as his good friend, Basil of Caesarea was volatile and arrogant. They
went to school together in Caesarea, Alexandria and Athens and remained lifelong
friends, struggling against the heresies of their day. Gregory was ordained a
priest about 362 A.D., under pressure from his father, the Bishop. Although
given a bishopric of his own in the backwater town of Sasima in a controversy
that he wanted no part of, he never moved there and assisted his father in
Nazianz until the latter's death in 374 A.D. He once explained his dilemma: "for
I am almost torn asunder by my inward longing and by the Spirit. The longing
urges me to flight, to solitude in the mountains, to quietude of soul and body,
to withdrawal of spirit from all sensuous things, and to retirement into myself,
that I may commune undisturbed with God, and be wholly penetrated by the rays of
His Spirit .... But the other, the Spirit, would lead me into the midst of life,
to serve the common weal, and by furthering others to further myself, to spread
light and to present to God a people for His possession a holy people, a royal
priesthood . . ." He was invited to become Bishop of Constantinople by the
Nicenes, who were plagued by Arian oppression and he accepted in 379 A.D. His
struggle against the Arian Bishop Demophilus was crowned with success in 380,
when the emperor deposed the latter and told Gregory, "This temple God by our
hand entrusts to thee as a reward for thy pains." He was recognized as the
Bishop there by the Second Ecumenical Council, meeting at Constantinople in 381,
but protests against his uncanonical transfer between sees, led to his
resignation with the following words, "Whatever this assembly may hereafter
determine concerning me, I would fain raise your mind before hand to something
far higher: I pray you now, be one, and join yourselves in love! Must we always
be only derided as infallible, and be animated only by one thing, the spirit of
strife? Give each other the hand fraternally. But I will be a second Jonah. I
will give myself for the salvation of our ship (the church), though I am
innocent of the storm. Let the lot fall upon me, and cast me into the sea. A
hospitable fish of the deep will receive me. This shall be the beginning of your
harmony. I reluctantly ascended the episcopal chair, and gladly I now come down.
Even my weak body advises me this. One debt only have I to pay: death; this I
owe to God. But, O my Trinity! for Thy sake only am I sad. Shalt Thou have an
able man, bold and zealous to vindicate Thee? Farewell, and remember my labors
and my pains." He returned to Nazianz, where he remained as bishop until a new
one was appointed in 383. He died in 389 or 390 A.D. on the family estate at
Arianz.
In Praise of Hero the Philosopher [379
A.D.]
983
[25, 16] "Common to the Father and Son and Holy Spirit is their having no coming
into being, and their divinity. Proper to the Father alone is His unbegotteness;
to the Son alone, His begotteness; to the Holy Spirit alone, His being sent
forth."
On the Words of the Gospel in Matthew 19:1
[ 380 A.D.]
1003
[37, 13] "It is a question not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God
showing mercy [Rom 9:16] . . . . There are some people who are so proud of their
successes that they attribute everything to themselves and nothing to Him who
made them and gave them wisdom and supplied them with good things. Let them
learn of this saying that even to wish someone well requires God's help; or
rather, even to choose what is right is something divine and a gift of God's
benovolence to man. That we may be saved requires something from us and from
God. That is why it says, 'Not of him who wills'; that is, not only of
him who wills; and not only of him who runs, but also of God's showing
mercy. Since to will is also from God, it is reasonable that Paul attributed the
whole to God. However well may you run, however well you may wrestle, you will
need Him who gives the crown."
On The Theophany or Birthday of
Christ [380 A.D.]
1007
[38,16] "You shall see. . . Jesus . . . crucified and crucifying my sin, as a
Lamb offered and as a Priest offering, as a man buried and as God rising again,
and afterwards ascending, whence He will come again in His own glory. How many
festivals there are in each of the mysteries of Christ! And all of them have one
main point: my perfection and reformation, and return to the [original condition
of the] first Adam.
Oration on the Holy Baptism [381 A.D.]
1011 [40, 3-4] "Baptism is God's most beautiful and magnificent gift . . . We
call it gift, grace, anointing, enlightment,
garment of immortality
, bath of rebirth, seal and most precious gift. It is called gift because
it is conferred on those who bringing nothing of their own; grace since
it is given even to the guilty; Baptism because sin is buried in the
water; anointing for it is priestly and royal as are those who are
anointed; enlightment because it radiates light; clothing since it
veils our shame; bath because it washes; and seal as it is our
guard and the sign of God's Lordship."
1011 [40, 9] "Let us be buried with Christ by Baptism to rise with Him; let us
go down with Him to be raised with Him; and let us rise with Him to be glorified
with Him."
1011a [40, 17] "Do you have an infant child? Allow sin no opportunity; rather,
let the infant be sanctified; from childhood. From his most tender age let him
be consecrated by the Spirit. Do you fear the seal [of Baptism] because of the
weakness of nature? O, what a pusillanimous mother, and of little faith! . . .
Give your child the Trinity, that great and noble Protector."
Letter of Gregory to Cledonius the Priest,
Against Apollinaris [A.D. 382]
1017 [101] "If anyone does not agree that Holy Mary is the Mother of God, he is
at odds with the Godhead. If anyone asserts that Christ passed through the
Virgin as though a channel, and was not shaped in her both divinely and humanly,
divinely because without man [thorough the action of the Holy Spirit] and
humanly because in accord with the law of gestation, he is likewise godless. If
anyone asserts that His manhood was formed to be clothed over afterwards with
divinity, he too is condemned; for this were not a generation of God, but a
flight from generation . . . "
Oration
[on the Priesthood]
[2, 71, 74, 73: PG 35, 480-481.]
" We must begin by purifying ourselves before purifying others; we must be
instructed to be able to instruct, become light to illuminate, draw close to God
to bring him close to others, be sanctified to sanctify, lead by the hand and
counsel prudently. I know whose ministers we are, where we find ourselves and to
where we strive. I know God's greatness and man's weakness, but also his
potential. (Who then is the priest? He is) the defender of truth, who stands
with angels, gives glory with archangels, causes sacrifices to rise to the altar
on high, shares Christ's priesthood, refashions creation, restores it in God's
image, recreates it for the world on high and, even greater, is divinized and
divinizes."
The Divinity of the Holy Spirit A
Case of Development in Doctrine (quoted
from a A Treasury of Early Christianity, p. 92, edited by Ann Freemantle)
. . . You see lights breaking upon us gradually; and the order of Theology,
which is better for us to keep, neither proclaiming things too suddenly, nor yet
keeping them hidden to the end. For the former course would be unscientific, the
latter aethisitical; and the former would be calculated to startle outsiders,
the latter to alienate our own people. . . . Our Savior had some things which He
said could not be borne at that time by His disciples (though perhaps they were
filled with many teachings), perhaps for the reasons I have mentioned; and
therefore they were hidden. And again He said that all things should be taught
us by the [Holy] Spirit when He shall come to dwell amongst us. Of these things
one, I take it, was the deity of the Spirit himself, made clear later on when
such knowledge should be seasonable and capable of being received after our
Savior's restoration, when it would no longer be received with incredulity
because of its marvelous character. For what greater thing than this did either
He promise, or the Spirit teach? If indeed anything is to be considered great
and worthy of the Majesty of God, which was either promised or taught."
The
Fathers of the Church spread the gospel of
Jesus Christ, defended the Church in apologetic writing and fought the many
heresies of the first six centuries of Christianity. These men, also called
Apostolic Fathers, gave special witness to the faith, some dying the death of a
martyr. Like Jesus who referred to Abraham as a spiritual father (Luke 16: 24)
and St. Paul, who referred to himself in the same terms (1 Corinthians 4: 15), the
Fathers were zealous for the word of God. Their writings are a testimony to the
faith of the early Church, yet many Christians are unfamiliar with the work of
Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrna, Justin the Martyr,
Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian of Carthage, Athanasius, Ephraim, Cyril of
Jerusalem, Hilary of Poitiers or Gregory the Great to name of few of the early
Fathers. Periodically we will provide biographical information and examples of
the writing of these great men of faith. This page will focus on the St. Gregory
of Nazianz. 
St.
Gregory of Nazianz (330-389 A.D.)