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Gregory of Nyssa (March 9th) was bom in Caesarea [Palestine, on the coast of the Mediterranean] ca. 334. His older brother Basil, later to become Bishop of Caesarea ("Basil the Great"), was always a dominant influence in his life (Gregory sometimes resented this). As a youth, Gregory was only reluctantly a Christian. When he was 20 years old, his faith was stirred by attending the reburial of forty martyrs and he became a practicing Christian.
He married and took on an academic career, teaching rhetoric but leaving that field for theology. He was ordained a priest ca.362, and spent the first years of his priesthood in the monastic community founded by his brother (we do not know what became of his wife!). By 371, Bishop Basil was engaged in struggles with the emperor Valens and the Arian heresy (which denied the full divinity of Christ). In order to strengthen his position he compelled Gregory to become bishop of Nyssa, a small town ten miles from Caesarea where the Arians were particularly strong. Feeling unfit to be a bishop, Gregory described his consecration as the most miserable day of his life.
He was, in fact, ill-suited for the office. Best as a thinker and writer, he was a poor administrator and he lacked personal tact. The Arians took advantage of his shortcomings and forced him into exile. He was able to return two years later upon the death of Valens in 378. After Basil's death in 379, Gregory developed more deeply as a theologian and leader. His rich writings, mystical and contemplative, still stand among the best of their kind. At the Council of Constantinople (381), he took a leading role and was honored as "the pillar of the Church." Gregory died ca. 394. Gregory, Basil, and Gregory of Nazianzus are the three great Eastern theologians known as the "Cappadocian Fathers." |
