St. Gregory of Nyssa
(C. 335 – 394 AD)
Historical Note
St. Gregory of Nyssa was the younger brother of the great St. Basil and the
third of the Three Cappadocians. Born around 335 AD, St. Gregory was
educated by his older brother and destined for the Church at a young age.
St. Gregory was known to call his brother Basil “our father and master.”
However, after advancing to the office of lector, a crisis of conscience
caused St. Gregory to abandon a career in the Church for a worldly career
as a teacher of rhetoric. This was despite the remonstrations of St. Basil. He
soon after also married a woman named Theosebeia. However, due to the
exhortations of St. Gregory Nazianzus, St. Gregory of Nyssa returned to his
true vocation and may have briefly stayed at St. Basil’s monastery on the
Iris River for a retreat.
In 371 AD, St. Basil, intent on consolidating his own authority as
metropolitan against the Arians, consecrated his younger brother as bishop
of Nyssa. Like St. Gregory of Nazianzus, this ordination was virtually
against St. Gregory of Nyssa’s will, but unlike the former he did take
possession of his diocese. It was as bishop of Nyssa that St. Gregory’s poor
skills as an administrator came to the fore, much to the frustration of St.
Basil who strongly criticized and blamed his younger brother, calling him
naïve and clumsy.
St. Gregory of Nyssa was not gifted as a leader or preacher, but rather as a
mystic, dogmatic theologian and writer. He was a philosopher who strove
to harmonize the faith with reason and show their true accord. In his
writings, we find nearly all species of Christian literature – the exegetical,
dogmatico-polemical, ascetical, discourses and letters. Of his works, the
greatest are Against Eunomius and The Great Catechism.
In 376 AD, the Arians falsely accused St. Gregory of misappropriation of
funds and persuaded the local governor of Pontus to order his arrest. St.
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