Saint Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople, a great
Father and teacher of the Church, was born into a Christian family of
eminent lineage in the year 329, at Arianzos (not far from the city of
Cappadocian Nazianzos). His father, also named Gregory (January 1), was
Bishop of Nazianzus. The son is the St Gregory Nazianzus encountered in
Patristic theology. His pious mother, St Nonna (August 5), prayed to God
for a son, vowing to dedicate him to the Lord. Her prayer was answered,
and she named her child Gregory.
When the child learned to read,
his mother presented him with the Holy Scripture. St Gregory received a
complete and extensive education: after working at home with his uncle
St Amphilochius (November 23), an experienced teacher of rhetoric, he
then studied in the schools of Nazianzos, Caesarea in Cappadocia, and
Alexandria. Then the saint decided to go to Athens to complete his
education.
On the way from Alexandria to Greece, a terrible storm
raged for many days. St Gregory, who was just a catechumen at that
time, feared that he would perish in the sea before being cleansed in
the waters of Baptism. St Gregory lay in the ship’s stern for twenty
days, beseeching the merciful God for salvation. He vowed to dedicate
himself to God, and was saved when he invoked the name of the Lord.
St
Gregory spent six years in Athens studying rhetoric, poetry, geometry,
and astronomy. His teachers were the renowned pagan rhetoricians
Gymorias and Proeresias. St Basil, the future Archbishop of Caesarea
(January 1) also studied in Athens with St Gregory. They were such close
friends that they seemed to be one soul in two bodies. Julian, the
future emperor (361-363) and apostate from the Christian Faith, was
studying philosophy in Athens at the same time.
Upon completing
his education, St Gregory remained for a certain while at Athens as a
teacher of rhetoric. He was also familiar with pagan philosophy and
literature.
In 358 St Gregory quietly left Athens and returned to
his parents at Nazianzus. At thirty-three years of age, he received
Baptism from his father, who had been appointed Bishop of Nazianzus.
Against his will, St Gregory was ordained to the holy priesthood by his
father. However, when the elder Gregory wished to make him a bishop, he
fled to join his friend Basil in Pontus. St Basil had organized a
monastery in Pontus and had written to Gregory inviting him to come.
St
Gregory remained with St Basil for several years. When his brother St
Caesarius (March 9) died, he returned home to help his father administer
his diocese. The local church was also in turmoil because of the Arian
heresy. St Gregory had the difficult task of reconciling the bishop with
his flock, who condemned their pastor for signing an ambiguous
interpretation of the dogmas of the faith.
St Gregory convinced
his father of the pernicious nature of Arianism, and strengthened him in
Orthodoxy. At this time, Bishop Anthimus, who pretended to be Orthodox
but was really a heretic, became Metropolitan of Tyana. St Basil had
been consecrated as the Archbishop of Caesarea, Cappadocia. Anthimus
wished to separate from St Basil and to divide the province of
Cappadocia.
St Basil the Great made St Gregory bishop of the city
of Sasima, a small town between Caesarea and Tyana. However, St Gregory
remained at Nazianzos in order to assist his dying father, and he
guided the flock of this city for a while after the death of his father
in 374.
Upon the death of Patriarch Valentus of Constantinople in
the year 378, a council of bishops invited St Gregory to help the Church
of Constantinople, which at this time was ravaged by heretics.
Obtaining the consent of St Basil the Great, St Gregory came to
Constantinople to combat heresy. In the year 379 he began to serve and
preach in a small church called “Anastasis” (“Resurrection”). Like David
fighting the Philistines with a sling, St Gregory battled against
impossible odds to defeat false doctrine.
Heretics were in the
majority in the capital, Arians, Macedonians, and Appolinarians. The
more he preached, the more did the number of heretics decrease, and the
number of the Orthodox increased. On the night of Pascha (April 21, 379)
when St Gregory was baptizing catechumens, a mob of armed heretics
burst into the church and cast stones at the Orthodox, killing one
bishop and wounding St Gregory. But the fortitude and mildness of the
saint were his armor, and his words converted many to the Orthodox
Church.
St Gregory’s literary works (orations, letters, poems)
show him as a worthy preacher of the truth of Christ. He had a literary
gift, and the saint sought to offer his talent to God the Word: “I offer
this gift to my God, I dedicate this gift to Him. Only this remains to
me as my treasure. I gave up everything else at the command of the
Spirit. I gave all that I had to obtain the pearl of great price. Only
in words do I master it, as a servant of the Word. I would never
intentionally wish to disdain this wealth. I esteem it, I set value by
it, I am comforted by it more than others are comforted by all the
treasures of the world. It is the companion of all my life, a good
counselor and converser; a guide on the way to Heaven and a fervent
co-ascetic.” In order to preach the Word of God properly, the saint
carefully prepared and revised his works.
In five sermons, or
“Theological Orations,” St Gregory first of all defines the
characteristics of a theologian, and who may theologize. Only those who
are experienced can properly reason about God, those who are successful
at contemplation and, most importantly, who are pure in soul and body,
and utterly selfless. To reason about God properly is possible only for
one who enters into it with fervor and reverence.
Explaining that
God has concealed His Essence from mankind, St Gregory demonstrates that
it is impossible for those in the flesh to view mental objects without a
mixture of the corporeal. Talking about God in a positive sense is
possible only when we become free from the external impressions of
things and from their effects, when our guide, the mind, does not adhere
to impure transitory images. Answering the Eunomians, who would presume
to grasp God’s Essence through logical speculation, the saint declared
that man perceives God when the mind and reason become godlike and
divine, i.e. when the image ascends to its Archetype. (Or. 28:17).
Furthermore, the example of the Old Testament patriarchs and prophets
and also the Apostles has demonstrated, that the Essence of God is
incomprehensible for mortal man. St Gregory cited the futile sophistry
of Eunomios: “God begat the Son either through His will, or contrary to
will. If He begat contrary to will, then He underwent constraint. If by
His will, then the Son is the Son of His intent.”
Confuting such
reasoning, St Gregory points out the harm it does to man: “You yourself,
who speak so thoughtlessly, were you begotten voluntarily or
involuntarily by your father? If involuntarily, then your father was
under the sway of some tyrant. Who? You can hardly say it was nature,
for nature is tolerant of chastity. If it was voluntarily, then by a few
syllables you deprive yourself of your father, for thus you are shown
to be the son of Will, and not of your father” (Or. 29:6).
St
Gregory then turns to Holy Scripture, with particular attention
examining a place where it points out the Divine Nature of the Son of
God. St Gregory’s interpretations of Holy Scripture are devoted to
revealing that the divine power of the Savior was actualized even when
He assumed an impaired human nature for the salvation of mankind.
The
first of St Gregory’s Five Theological Orations is devoted to arguments
against the Eunomians for their blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Closely
examining everything that is said in the Gospel about the Third Person
of the Most Holy Trinity, the saint refutes the heresy of Eunomios,
which rejected the divinity of the Holy Spirit. He comes to two
fundamental conclusions. First, in reading Holy Scripture, it is
necessary to reject blind literalism and to try and understand its
spiritual sense. Second, in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit operated
in a hidden way. “Now the Spirit Himself dwells among us and makes the
manifestation of Himself more certain. It was not safe, as long as they
did not acknowledge the divinity of the Father, to proclaim openly that
of the Son; and as long as the divinity of the Son was not accepted,
they could not, to express it somewhat boldly, impose on us the burden
of the Holy Spirit” (Or. 31:26).
The divinity of the Holy Spirit
is a sublime subject. “Look at these facts: Christ is born, the Holy
Spirit is His Forerunner. Christ is baptized, the Spirit bears witness
to this... Christ works miracles, the Spirit accompanies them. Christ
ascends, the Spirit takes His place. What great things are there in the
idea of God which are not in His power? What titles appertaining to God
do not apply also to Him, except for Unbegotten and Begotten? I tremble
when I think of such an abundance of titles, and how many Names they
blaspheme, those who revolt against the Spirit!” (Or. 31:29).
The
Orations of St Gregory are not limited only to this topic. He also wrote
Panegyrics on Saints, Festal Orations, two invectives against Julian
the Apostate, “two pillars, on which the impiety of Julian is indelibly
written for posterity,” and various orations on other topics. In all,
forty-five of St Gregory’s orations have been preserved.
The
letters of the saint compare favorably with his best theological works.
All of them are clear, yet concise. In his poems as in all things, St
Gregory focused on Christ. “If the lengthy tracts of the heretics are
new Psalters at variance with David, and the pretty verses they honor
are like a third testament, then we also shall sing Psalms, and begin to
write much and compose poetic meters,” said the saint. Of his poetic
gift the saint wrote: “I am an organ of the Lord, and sweetly... do I
glorify the King, all atremble before Him.”
The fame of the
Orthodox preacher spread through East and West. But the saint lived in
the capital as though he still lived in the wilderness: “his food was
food of the wilderness; his clothing was whatever necessary. He made
visitations without pretense, and though in proximity of the court, he
sought nothing from the court.”
The saint received a shock when
he was ill. One whom he considered as his friend, the philosopher
Maximus, was consecrated at Constantinople in St Gregory’s place. Struck
by the ingratitude of Maximus, the saint decided to resign the
cathedra, but his faithful flock restrained him from it. The people
threw the usurper out of the city. On November 24, 380 the holy emperor
Theodosius arrived in the capital and, in enforcing his decree against
the heretics, the main church was returned to the Orthodox, with St
Gregory making a solemn entrance. An attempt on the life of St Gregory
was planned, but instead the assassin appeared before the saint with
tears of repentance.
At the Second Ecumenical Council in 381, St
Gregory was chosen as Patriarch of Constantinople. After the death of
Patriarch Meletius of Antioch, St Gregory presided at the Council.
Hoping to reconcile the West with the East, he offered to recognize
Paulinus as Patriarch of Antioch.
Those who had acted against St
Gregory on behalf of Maximus, particularly Egyptian and Macedonian
bishops, arrived late for the Council. They did not want to acknowledge
the saint as Patriarch of Constantinople, since he was elected in their
absence.
St Gregory decided to resign his office for the sake of
peace in the Church: “Let me be as the Prophet Jonah! I was responsible
for the storm, but I would sacrifice myself for the salvation of the
ship. Seize me and throw me... I was not happy when I ascended the
throne, and gladly would I descend it.”
After telling the emperor
of his desire to quit the capital, St Gregory appeared again at the
Council to deliver a farewell address (Or. 42) asking to be allowed to
depart in peace.
Upon his return to his native region, St Gregory
turned his attention to the incursion of Appolinarian heretics into the
flock of Nazianzus, and he established the pious Eulalius there as
bishop, while he himself withdrew into the solitude of Arianzos so dear
to his heart. The saint, zealous for the truth of Christ continued to
affirm Orthodoxy through his letters and poems, while remaining in the
wilderness. He died on January 25, 389, and is honored with the title
“Theologian,” also given to the holy Apostle and Evangelist John.
In
his works St Gregory, like that other Theologian St John, directs
everything toward the Pre-eternal Word. St John of Damascus (December
4), in the first part of his book AN EXACT EXPOSITION OF THE ORTHODOX
FAITH, followed the lead of St Gregory the Theologian.
St Gregory
was buried at Nazianzos. In the year 950, his holy relics were
transferred to Constantinople into the church of the Holy Apostles.
Later on, a portion of his relics was transferred to Rome.
In
appearance, the saint was of medium height and somewhat pale. He had
thick eyebrows, and a short beard. His contemporaries already called the
archpastor a saint. The Orthodox Church, honors St Gregory as a second
Theologian and insightful writer on the Holy Trinity.
“O glorious
Father Gregory, Your knowledge has overcome the pride of false wisdom.
The church is clothed with your teaching as a robe of righteousness. We
your children celebrate your memory crying out: Rejoice, O father of
unsurpassable wisdom!” [Kontakion].
Source.Oca.Org.
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