GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS

GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS, “The Theologian,” monk, bishop, St. (329–389). One of the Cappadocian Fathers (q.v.), Gregory was the son of the bishop of Nazianzus and a lifelong friend of Basil the Great (q.v.), both of whom studied in Athens. Their friendship was severely strained by Basil’s use of his friends in his campaigns against the “Neo-Arians.” His tactics included filling up vacant episcopal sees with trusted acquaintances, and Gregory fell a reluctant and unhappy victim when snatched from his monastic refuge. Theologically, however, his loyalty to Basil was complete. His appointment in 379 as Bishop of Constantinople for the small party in the imperial city loyal to the Creed of Nicaea (qq.v.) provided the setting for a series of brilliant sermons, including the justly famed five Theological Orations on the Trinity (q.v.), which served to win the day for Trinitarian Orthodoxy at Constantinople and to win for Gregory himself the epithet, “the Theologian,” by which he continues to be venerated. After being appointed Bishop of Constantinople and helping to convene the Second Ecumenical Council (q.v.), he was forced to resign by an episcopal cabal led by the Patriarch of Alexandria.

Gregory retired first to Nazianzus and then to his country estate in Cappadocia where he devoted his remaining years to asceticism (q.v.), correspondence, and the writing of theological poetry. While the last forms a considerable part of his remaining works, it is not usually as highly valued as his extraordinary sermons, which with his letters continue to be studied and greatly esteemed. His “Letters to Cledonius” on the Apollinarian controversy, in particular the phrase “what is not assumed is not saved,” provided an important standard for the pronouncements of later Ecumenical Councils on Christology (q.v.).