9
May 389 A.D. Gregory
of Nazianzus on the calendar of remembrance.
Chistianity.com tells an angle
at: http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/301-600/timid-gregory-nazianzus-is-honored-11629669.html
What should you do if you find
yourself totally out of your element? Gregory of Nazianzus tried two tactics.
The first was to run. The second was to gut out a tough situation with the
Lord's help. In his day, he appeared largely a failure, but the principles he
championed left him a lasting and noble name.
For a long time, the church
remembered Gregory on this day, May 9. But saints days move on the
calendar. Now he is more
often honored in January with his friend Basil the Great. The date
matters little. Far more important is the legacy he left behind. This includes five great sermons
on the Trinity, preached when he was under great pressure.
Gregory and Basil attended school together, first in Cappadocia and
then in Athens. Basil
was a man of heroic action, self-controlled, masterful. Gregory was the opposite--affectionate,
sensitive, timid, quiet, scholarly. He found it hard to make up his mind and
could easily become depressed. Both men dedicated their lives to God, but
Gregory didn't want to become a priest. In his view, a priest must be
practically perfect. He was afraid he could never live up to the job.
Gregory's father, bishop of
Nazianzus (in what is now Turkey), needed a helper and forced his son to get
ordained. Gregory ran away. Only after several weeks of reflection did he
change his mind and go back. Then he wrote a pamphlet explaining why he ran
away and describing his high idea of what a priest should be. After his return, he preached
his first sermon, at Easter in 362.
Basil was fighting for control of
the churches in Cappadocia. To strengthen his position he created a new see at
Sasima. Against Gregory's wishes, Basil ordained him and appointed him to the
see. Gregory did not have the courage to refuse the ordination, but he felt
that he was so unsuited to Sasima's needs that he refused to go there. This
cooled the friendship between Basil and himself. Gregory continued to help his
father. When his dad died, Gregory gave almost his whole inheritance to the
poor. He oversaw his dad's diocese, but refused to become its bishop.
Eventually he entered a monastery.
When Theodosius became Emperor,
several churchmen asked Gregory to become the leader of the orthodox Christians in Constantinople. This time
Gregory said yes. The Arians, who said Christ was a created being, controlled
the town, so Gregory had to preach in a small chapel. The Arians heckled
Gregory, mobbed him, and made his life miserable. Under these conditions,
Gregory preached his finest sermons, a shining defense of the doctrine of the
Trinity. These finally broke the arguments of the Arian heresy.
Theodosius appointed Gregory
bishop of Constantinople. Gregory, who could have appealed to the emperor to
put down the opposition, proved that mercy wasn't just a theory with him when
he and his congregation were attacked by Arians. "Let us overcome them by
gentleness, and win them by piety; let their punishment be found in their own
consciences, not in our resentment," he wrote. But opposition was so
strong and his health so bad that he resigned after a few months. By worldly
standards, he was a failure. And yet the importance of his work grew and grew,
until the church (in both east and west) declared him a saint and honored him
in the calendar.
Bibliography:
1. "Gregory of Nazianzus,
St." The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Edited by F. L. Cross
and E. A. Livingstone. Oxford, 1997.
2. "Gregory the Theologian,
Archbishop of Constantinople." Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
http://www.goarch.org/en/Chapel/saints.asp?contentid=403.
3. Hunter-Blair, D.O. St. Gregory of
Nazianzus. The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
4. Various encyclopedia and internet
articles.
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