| Gregory of Nazianzus (May 9th) is considered to be one of the four greatest theologians of the Early Church. He was born ca. 330 in Nazianzus where his father was bishop. After receiving a fine education abroad, he took up the monastic life in 359 with his friend Basil (later "the Great" of Caesarea). In 361 he returned home to help his aged father manage the diocese. He found that the Arian heresy (that Jesus was not divine) had split the church there into vying fragments. Gregory's defense of his father's orthodoxy brought peace and he became so prominent that the people virtually forced him to be ordained as a priest. He accepted this with great reluctance.
Basil, now bishop of Caesarea, pressured Gregory to become bishop of a hostile area in order to maintain a presence there against the Arians. Gregory strongly resented this and his friendship with Basil was never the same. Upon his father's death in 374 he administered
the diocese of Nazianzus for about a year and then, in poor health, he withdrew for a period of healing. In 379, a renewed man, he moved to Constantinople. The next year several area bishops asked him to restore the church in Constantinople, which had suffered thirty years of Arian rule. Though frail, Gregory succeeded in building up an orthodox congregation.
During his time, he codified the theology of the Holy Trinity that is contained in the final version of the Nicene Creed (381). When the Arians were expelled by the Emperor, Gregory became bishop of Constantinople but, exhausted, he resigned within a year. He retired and lived out his life in peaceful seclusion, writing poetry and his autobiography. Gregory died in 390. He was buried in Constantinople, but his remains were later moved to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, where they are still interred. |
