Saint  Gregory  of  Nyssa

                     Date of birth unknown; died after 385 or 386. He belongs to the group known as
                     the "Cappadocian Fathers", a title which reveals at once his birthplace in Asia
                     Minor and his intellectual characteristics. Gregory was born of a deeply religious
                     family, not very rich in worldly goods, to which circumstances he probably owed
                     the pious training of his youth. His mother Emmelia was a martyr's daughter; two
                     of his brothers, Basil of Cæsarea and Peter of Sebaste, became bishops like
                     himself; his eldest sister, Macrina, became a model of piety and is honoured as
                     a saint. Another brother, Naucratius, a lawyer, inclined to a life of asceticism, but
                     died too young to realize his desires. A letter of Gregory to his younger brother,
                     Peter, exhibits the feelings of lively gratitude which both cherished for their elder
                     brother Basil, whom Gregory calls "our father and our master". Probably,
                     therefore, the difference in years between them was such as to have enabled
                     Basil to supervise the education of his younger brothers. Basil's training was an
                     antidote to the lessons of the pagan schools, wherein, as we know from a letter
                     of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa spent some time, very probably in
                     his early youth, for it is certain that while still a youth Gregory exercised the
                     ecclesiastical office of rector. His family, it would seem, had endeavoured to turn
                     his thoughts towards the Church, for when the young man chose a secular
                     career and began the study of rhetoric, Basil remonstrated with him long and
                     earnestly; when he had failed he called on Gregory's friends to influence him
                     against that objectionable secular calling. It was all in vain; moreover, it would
                     seem that the young man married. There exists a letter addressed to him by
                     Gregory of Nazianzus condoling with him on the loss of one Theosebeia, who
                     must have been his wife, and with whom he continued to live, as with a sister,
                     even after he became bishop. This is also evident from his treatise "De
                     virginitate".

                     Some think that Gregory spent a certain time in retreat before his consecration
                     as bishop, but we have no proof of the fact. His extant letters make no mention of
                     such retirement from the world. Nor are we better informed of the circumstances
                     of his election to the See of Nyssa, a little town on the banks of the Halys, along
                     the road between Cæsarea and Ancyra. According to Gregory of Nazianzus it
                     was Basil who performed the episcopal consecration of his brother, before he
                     himself had taken possession of the See of Sozima; which would place the
                     beginning of Gregory of Nyssa's episcopate about 371. Was this brusque change
                     in Gregory's career the result of a sudden vocation? St. Basil tells us that it was
                     necessary to overcome his brother's repugnance, before he accepted the office of
                     bishop. But this does not help us to an answer, as the episcopal charge in that
                     day was beset with many dangers. Moreover in the fourth century, and even later,
                     it was not uncommon to express dislike of the episcopal honour, and to fly from
                     the prospect of election. The fugitives, however, were usually discovered and
                     brought back, and the consecration took place when a show of resistance had
                     saved the candidate's humility. Whether it was so in Gregory's case, or whether
                     he really did feel his own unfitness, we do not know. In any case, St. Basil
                     seems to have regretted at times the constraint thus put on his brother, now
                     removed from his influence; in his letters he complains of Gregory's naive and
                     clumsy interference with his (Basil's) business. To Basil the synod called in 372
                     by Gregory at Ancyra seemed the ruin of his own labours. In 375 Gregory
                     seemed to him decidedly incapable of ruling a Church. At the same time he had
                     but faint praise for Gregory's zeal for souls.

                     On arriving in his see Gregory had to face great difficulties. His sudden elevation
                     may have turned against him some who had hoped for the office themselves. It
                     would appear that one of the courtiers of Emperor Valens had solicited the see
                     either for himself or one of his friends. When Demosthenes, Governor of Pontus,
                     convened an assembly of Eastern bishops, a certain Philocares, at one of its
                     sessions, accused Gregory of wasting church property, and of irregularity in his
                     election to the episcopate, whereupon Demosthenes ordered the Bishop of
                     Nyssa to be seized and brought before him. Gregory at first allowed himself to be
                     led away by his captors, then losing heart and discouraged by the cold and
                     brutal treatment he met with, he took an opportunity of escape and reached a
                     place of safety. A Synod of Nyssa (376) deposed him, and he was reduced to
                     wander from town to town, until the death of Valens in 378. The new emperor,
                     Gratian, published an edict of tolerance, and Gregory returned to his see, where
                     he was received with joy. A few months after this (January, 379) his brother Basil
                     died; whereupon an era of activity began for Gregory. In 379 he assisted at the
                     Council of Antioch which had been summoned because of the Meletian schism.
                     Soon after this, it is supposed, he visited Palestine. There is reason for believing
                     that he was sent officially to remedy the disorders of the Church of Arabia. But
                     possibly his journey did not take place till after the Council of Constantinople in
                     381, convened by Emperor Theodosius for the welfare of religion in that city. It
                     asserted the faith of Nicæa, and tried to put an end to Arianism and Pneumatism
                     in the East. This council was not looked on as an important one at the time; even
                     those present at it seldom refer to it in their writings. Gregory himself, though he
                     assisted at the council, mentions it only casually in his funeral oration over
                     Meletius of Antioch, who died during the course of this assembly.

                     An edict of Theodosius (30 July, 381; Cod. Theod., LXVI, tit. I., L. 3) having
                     appointed certain episcopal sees as centres of Catholic communion in the East,
                     Helladius of Cæsarea, Gregory of Nyssa and Otreius of Melitene were chosen to
                     fill them. At Constantinople Gregory gave evidence on two occasions of his talent
                     as an orator; he delivered the discourse at the enthronization of St. Gregory of
                     Nazianzus, also the aforesaid oration over Meletius of Antioch. It is very probable
                     that Gregory was present at another Council of Constantinople in 383; his "Oratio
                     de deitate Filii et Spiritus Sancti" seems to confirm this. In 385 or 386 he
                     preached the funeral sermon over the imperial Princess Pulcheria, and shortly
                     afterwards over Empress Flaccilla. A little later we meet him again at
                     Constantinople, on which occasion his counsel was sought for the repression of
                     ecclesiastical disorders in Arabia; he then disappears from history, and probably
                     did not long survive this journey. From the above it will be seen that his life is
                     little known to us. It is difficult to outline clearly his personality, while his writings
                     contain too many flights of eloquence to permit final judgment on his real
                     character.

                     Works

                     Exegetical

                     Most of his writings treat of the Sacred Scriptures. He was an ardent admirer of
                     Origen, and applied constantly the latter's principles of hermeneutics. Gregory is
                     ever in quest of allegorical interpretations and mystical meanings hidden away
                     beneath the literal sense of texts. As a rule, however, the "great Cappadocians"
                     tried to eliminate this tendency. His "Treatise on the Work of the Six Days"
                     follows St. Basil's Hexæmeron. Another work, "On the Creation of Man", deals
                     with the work of the Sixth Day, and contains some curious anatomical details; it
                     was translated into Latin by Dionysius Exiguus. His account of Moses as
                     legislator offers much fine-spun allegorizing, and the same is true of his
                     "Explanation of the Titles of the Psalms". In a brief tractate on the Witch of Endor
                     he says that the woman did not see Samuel, but only a demon, who put on the
                     figure of the prophet. Besides a homily on the sixth Psalm, he wrote eight
                     homilies on Ecclesiastes, in which he taught that the soul should rise above the
                     senses, and that true peace is only to be found in contempt of worldly greatness.
                     He is also the author of fifteen homilies on the Canticle of Canticles (the union of
                     the soul with its Creator), five very eloquent homilies on the Lord's Prayer, and
                     eight highly rhetorical homilies on the Beatitudes.

                     Theological

                     In theology Gregory shows himself more original and more at ease. Yet his
                     originality is purely in manner, since he added little that is new. His diction,
                     however, offers many felicitous and pleasing allusions, suggested probably by his
                     mystical turn of mind. These grave studies were taken up by him late in life,
                     hence he follows step by step the teaching of St. Basil and of St. Gregory of
                     Nazianzus. Like them he defends the unity of the Divine nature and the trinity of
                     Persons; where he loses their guidance, our confidence in him tends to
                     decrease. In his teaching on the Eucharist he appears really original; his
                     Christological doctrine, however, is based entirely on Origen and St. Athanasius.
                     The most important of his theological writings is his large "Catechesis", or
                     "Oratio Catechetica", an argumentative defence in forty chapters of Catholic
                     teaching as against Jews, heathens, and heretics. The most extensive of his
                     extant works is his refutation of Eunomius in twelve books, a defence of St. Basil
                     against that heretic, and also of the Nicene Creed against Arianism; this work is
                     of capital importance in the history of the Arian controversy. He also wrote two
                     works against Apollinaris of Laodicea, in refutation of the false doctrines of that
                     writer, viz. that the body of Christ descended from heaven, and that in Christ, the
                     Divine Word acted as the rational soul. Among the works of Gregory are certain
                     "Opuscula" on the Trinity addressed to Ablabius, the tribune Simplicius, and
                     Eustathius of Sebaste. He wrote also against Arius and Sabellius, and against
                     the Macedonians, who denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit; the latter work he
                     never finished. In the "De anima et resurrectione" we have a dialogue between
                     Gregory and his deceased sister, Macrina; it treats of death, resurrection, and
                     our last end. He defends human liberty against the fatalism of the astrologers in
                     a work "On Fate", and in his treatise "On Children", dedicated to Hieros, Prefect
                     of Cappadocia, he undertook to explain why Providence permits the premature
                     death of children.

                     Ascetical

                     He wrote also on Christian life and conduct, e.g. "On the meaning of the
                     Christian name or profession", addressed to Harmonius, and "On Perfection and
                     what manner of man the Christian should be", dedicated to the monk Olympius.
                     For the monks, he wrote a work on the Divine purpose in creation. His admirable
                     book "On Virginity", written about 370, was composed to strengthen in all who
                     read it the desire for a life of perfect virtue.

                     Sermons and Homilies

                     Gregory wrote also many sermons and homilies, some of which we have already
                     mentioned; others of importance are his panegyric on St. Basil, and his sermons
                     on the Divinity of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

                     Correspondence

                     A few of his letters (twenty-six) have survived; two of them offer a peculiar interest
                     owing to the severity of his strictures on contemporary pilgrimages to Jerusalem.

                     For a discussion of his peculiar doctrine concerning the general restoration
                     (Apocatastasis) to divine favour of all sinful creatures at the end of time, i.e. the
                     temporary nature of the pains of hell, see the articles APOCATASTASIS and
                     MIVART. The theory of interpolation of the writings of Gregory and of Origen,
                     sustained among others by Vincenzi (below), seems, in this respect at least,
                     both useless and gratuitous (Bardenhewer).

                     Notes

                     The writings of Gregory are best collected in P.G., XLIV-XLVI. There is no critical edition as yet,
                     though one was begun by FORBES and OEHLER (Burntisland, 1855, 61); of another edition
                     planned by Oehler, only one volume appeared (Halle, 1865). The best of the earlier editions is that
                     of FRONTO DUCÆUS (Paris, 1615). Cf. VINCENZI, In Gregorii Nysseni et Origenis scripta et
                     doctrinam nova recensio, etc. (Rome, 1864-69); BAUER, Die Trostreden des Gregorios von Nyssa in
                     ihrem Verhältniss zur antiken Rhetorik (Marburg, 1892); BOUËDRON, Doctrines philosophiques de
                     Saint Grégoire de Nysse (Nantes, 1861); KOCH, Das mystische Schauen beim hl. Gr. v. Nyssa in
                     Theol. Quartalschrift (1898), LXXX, 397-420; DIEKAMP, Die Gotteslehre des hl. Gregor von Nyssa:
                     ein Beitrag zur Dogmengesch. der patristischen Zeit (Münster, 1897); WEISS, Die Erziehungslehre
                     der Kappadozier (Freiburg, 1903); HILT, St. Gregorii episcopi Nysseni doctrina de angelis exposita
                     (Freiburg, 1860); KRAMPF, Der Urzustand des Menschen nach der Lehre des hl. Gregor von Nyssa,
                     eine dogmatisch-patristische Studie (Würzburg, 1889); REICHE, Die kunstlerischen Elemente in der
                     Welt und Lebens-Anschauung des Gregor von Nyssa (Jena, 1897); and on the large Catechesis
                     (logos katechetikos ho megas), generally known as Oratio Catechetica, see SRAWLEY in Journal of
                     Theol. Studies (1902), III, 421-8, also his new edition of the Oratio (Cambridge, 1903). For an
                     English version of several works of Gregory see Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second
                     series (New York, 1893), II, v; and for a German version of some works, HAYD in the Kemptener
                     Bibliothek der Kirchenväter (1874).

                     H. Leclercq
                     Transcribed by Elizabeth T. knuth

                                       The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VII
                                    Copyright © 1910 by Robert Appleton Company
                                    Online Edition Copyright © 1999 by Kevin Knight
                                  Nihil Obstat, June 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor
                                 Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York

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