Gregory of Nazianzus
Christian saint and theologian (c. 329 – 390)
b. 329 · d. 25 Jan 389
37th Archbishop of Constantinople (Ecumenical Patriarch) · 379–381
Offices
- Archbishop of Constantinople (Ecumenical Patriarch) № 37 · 379 – 381
Gregory of Nazianzus, also known as Saint Gregory the Theologian or Gregory Nazianzen, was an early Roman Christian theologian and prelate who served as Archbishop of Constantinople from 380 to 381. He is widely considered the most accomplished rhetorical stylist of the patristic age. As a classically trained orator and philosopher, he infused Hellenism into the early Church, establishing the paradigm of Byzantine theologians and church officials.
Related people
- Nonna of Nazianzus child of · traditional
- Gregory of Nazianzus the Elder child of · traditional
- Basil of Caesarea consecrated by · traditional
- Himerius disciple of · traditional
- Prohaeresius disciple of · traditional
- Basil of Caesarea disciple of · traditional
- Amphilochius of Iconium disciple of · traditional
- Evagrius of Constantinople succeeded · traditional
- Evagrius Ponticus teacher of · traditional
- Basil of Caesarea teacher of · traditional
- Licinian of Cartagena influenced · traditional
- Evagrius Ponticus influenced · traditional
- Evagrius Ponticus ordainer of · documented
- Caesarius of Nazianzus sibling of · traditional
- Gorgonia sibling of · traditional
- Maximus I of Constantinople preceded · traditional
Works
Events
Commemorated
Places
- Nazianzus death
- Arianzos death
- Constantinople burial
- Cappadocia ministry
How we know
Recorded as a historical figure.
- The Seven Ecumenical Councils (NPNF series 2 vol. 14) 2 claims — First Council of Nicaea; First Council of Constantinople
- Ecclesiastical History 2 claims — HE 5.8; Gregory takes the Nicene remnant at Constantinople
- Ecclesiastical History 1 claim — Evagrius is made archdeacon at Constantinople
- Oriens Christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus 1 claim — Oriens Christianus I, col. 195 sqq. — Patriarchae Constantinopolitani
- The Path of Christianity: The First Thousand Years 1 claim — Annisa: Macrina's community and the rule Basil wrote for it
Sayings
- the guiding of man, the most variable and manifold of creatures, seems to me in very deed to be the art of arts and science of sciences Checked word-for-word against the book it cites — Gregory defending his flight from ordination, and giving the pastoral tradition its most quoted phrase two centuries before Gregory the Great put it at the head of the Pastoral…
- Christ is born, glorify ye Him. Christ from heaven, go ye out to meet Him. Christ on earth; be ye exalted. Checked word-for-word against the book it cites — The opening of the Oration on the Theophany, preached at Constantinople about 380 and still sung at the Nativity in the Byzantine rite as the katavasia of the canon — a sermon’s…
- For we ought to think of God even more often than we draw our breath Checked word-for-word against the book it cites — The first Theological Oration, against men arguing about God in the street. Not less thought about God — less talk: he would hinder no one’s remembrance, "but only the talking…
What he held
- The Word takes the place of the human mind In Christ the divine Word occupies the place of the rational human soul.
In the disputes
- The Apollinarian dispute Apollinaris tried to explain how the divine and the human could be one by leaving out the human mind.
- The Arian crisis Sixty years of argument about whether the Son is God in the same sense the Father is.