About St. Gregory the Theologian

A Child Dedicated to God

St. Gregory was born around the year 329 at Arianzus, near Nazianzus in Cappadocia, in what is now central Turkey. He was born into a remarkable Christian family. His father, also named Gregory, became Bishop of Nazianzus and is himself numbered among the saints. His mother, St. Nonna, was a woman of profound faith and prayer. Before Gregory's birth, she prayed that God would give her a son and promised to dedicate the child to Him. His brother Caesarius and his sister Gorgonia are likewise honored as saints.

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Gregory received one of the finest educations available in the ancient world, studying in Caesarea, Alexandria, and finally Athens. During the voyage from Alexandria to Athens, however, Gregory nearly lost his life. A violent storm threatened to destroy the ship. Gregory was still a catechumen and had not yet been baptized. Fearing that he would die before receiving Holy Baptism, he cried out to God and vowed that, if his life were spared, he would dedicate himself completely to Him. The storm subsided, and Gregory never forgot his promise.

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Friendship with St. Basil

In Athens, Gregory was reunited with another young Cappadocian student who would become one of the greatest saints of the Church: St. Basil the Great. The friendship between Basil and Gregory became one of the great spiritual friendships in Christian history. Gregory would later describe them as though they were “one soul” dwelling in two bodies. They shared not merely intellectual interests but a common desire to live for Christ.

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Their fellow students included the future emperor Julian, later known as Julian the Apostate, who would abandon Christianity and attempt to restore paganism throughout the Roman Empire. After completing his studies, Gregory returned home and was baptized. He later joined Basil in the ascetic life in Pontus, where the two friends devoted themselves to prayer, fasting, the study of Scripture, and the writings of the Fathers.

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Gregory desired the quiet life of prayer and contemplation. God, however, had other plans for him.

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Called to Serve the Church

Gregory's father ordained him to the priesthood, despite Gregory's reluctance. Later, St. Basil consecrated him Bishop of Sasima. Gregory never sought ecclesiastical office. Indeed, throughout his life he repeatedly desired to withdraw from public responsibilities and return to solitude. Yet whenever the Church needed him, he ultimately placed the needs of the Church above his own desires. This became especially important during one of the most difficult periods in the history of Christianity.

The Church was being torn apart by the Arian controversy. Arians denied the full divinity of the Son of God, while other groups denied the full divinity of the Holy Spirit. Although the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea had proclaimed the Orthodox Faith in 325, the controversy continued for decades.

 

In 379, St. Gregory was called to Constantinople.  The situation he encountered there was extraordinary. The Orthodox had lost control of virtually all the churches of the imperial capital. Gregory therefore began his ministry in a small house chapel called the Anastasia, meaning “Resurrection.” From this small chapel, one man began to change the spiritual life of an entire city.

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The Theologian

St. Gregory possessed neither an army nor political power. His weapons were holiness of life, extraordinary command of Scripture, and the truth of the Orthodox Faith. Crowds came to hear him preach.

 

At the Anastasia he delivered the sermons for which he is most famous, the Five Theological Orations. In them he defended the Church's teaching concerning the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and explained with extraordinary precision the mystery of the Holy Trinity. For Gregory, however, theology was never merely an intellectual exercise. A true theologian must first be purified by prayer and repentance. One cannot speak rightly about God simply by mastering arguments. The knowledge of God belongs to those who seek Him with humility, reverence, and purity of heart.

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Gregory's preaching bore remarkable fruit. The Orthodox community grew, and the churches of Constantinople were eventually restored to the Orthodox Faith. His ministry was not without suffering. At Pascha in 379, an armed mob of heretics attacked the faithful during worship. Stones were thrown, a bishop was killed, and Gregory himself was wounded. Yet he continued to preach with courage and meekness.

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The Second Ecumenical Council

In 381, the Second Ecumenical Council assembled in Constantinople. St. Gregory was recognized as Archbishop of Constantinople and, after the death of St. Meletius of Antioch, Gregory was called upon to preside over the Council. The Council defended the faith proclaimed at Nicaea and affirmed with particular clarity the divinity of the Holy Spirit—the Faith confessed by Orthodox Christians whenever we recite the Nicene Creed:

“And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father; Who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified...”

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But disputes arose concerning Gregory's position in Constantinople. Rather than allow himself to become the cause of further division within the Church, he willingly surrendered his office.

Gregory had never desired the throne of Constantinople, and he would not fight to keep it. In his farewell address he asked the bishops to permit him to depart in peace. He relinquished one of the most important positions in the Christian world and returned home. His willingness to surrender power for the peace of the Church reveals as much about St. Gregory as his theological writings do.

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His Final Years

After leaving Constantinople, Gregory eventually withdrew to his family estate at Arianzus. There he returned to the life he had desired from his youth—a life of prayer, contemplation, and writing.

He continued to defend the Orthodox Faith through his letters, poems, and theological works until his repose around the year 390/391.

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St. Gregory left the Church a tremendous literary inheritance: theological orations, sermons for the great feasts, letters, poetry, defenses of the Faith, and reflections upon the Christian life. But the Church remembers him as something more than a brilliant Christian writer. She remembers him as Gregory the Theologian.

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His theology came from a life directed toward God. He knew that the mystery of the Holy Trinity could never simply be mastered by human reasoning. God must be approached with humility, purification, prayer, and love. For St. Gregory, the purpose of theology was ultimately communion with God.

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Our Patron Saint

As the patron of St. Gregory the Theologian Antiochian Orthodox Church, St. Gregory offers our parish a powerful example of what the Christian life should be. He teaches us to seek God before everything else; to unite knowledge of the Faith with prayer and holiness of life; to defend the truth without surrendering humility; to serve the Church even when that service requires sacrifice; and to value the peace and unity of the Church above position or personal ambition.

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Above all, St. Gregory reminds us that Orthodox theology is not merely something we study. It is something we are called to live.

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Through the prayers of our holy father Gregory the Theologian, O Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.