Catholic community and heretics who had come attracted by St. Gregory’s
sanctity, learning and eloquence. He was a born orator with a clear vision
and vivid imagination.
On 27 November, 380 AD, the Emperor Theodosius installed St. Gregory
as the Archbishop of Constantinople. In this capacity he attended the First
Council of Constantinople in May 381 AD. However, numerous objections
were raised against his elevation to the Archbishopric on the grounds that it
was uncanonical to transfer a bishop from one see to another. The
opposition was so great that St. Gregory resigned and returned to
Nazianzus, where he took charge for two years before retiring to his family
estate in solitude until his death around 389/390 AD.
The literary work of St. Gregory comprised discourses, poems and letters –
45 discourses, 2 books of poems and 244 letters. His writing style was
ornate, refined and studied. He is one of the most admired Byzantine
writers, earning the title of Theologus, or the Divine. The most remarkable
aspect of his writing is his theological language. In his Trinitarian and
Christological writings are found precise formulas which express
definitively orthodox dogmas. There has been no need to refine them since.
Extracts
In Praise of Hero the Philosopher (379 AD):
25, 16
“Common to Father and Son and Holy Spirit is their having no coming into being,
and their divinity. Common to Son and Holy Spirit is their coming from the Father.
Proper to the Father alone is His unbegottenness; to the Son alone, His
begottenness; to the Spirit alone, His being sent forth.”
Second Theological Oration (380 AD):
28, 16
“Let us suppose that the existence of the universe is spontaneous. To what will you
ascribe its order? If you like, we will grant even that. But to what then will you
ascribe its preservation and its being maintained in the terms of its first existence?
Something else, or is that also spontaneous? Surely to something other than
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