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NYSSA (Ancient city) TURKEY
Gregorius (Gregorios). Nyssenus, bishop of Nyssa in Cappadocia, was the
younger brother of Basil, and was born at Caesarea in Cappadocia, about A.D. 331.
He was made bishop of Nyssa about 372, and, like his brother Basil and their friend
Gregory Nazienzen, was one of the pillars of orthodoxy. He died soon after A.D.
394. Like his brother, he was an eminent rhetorician, though his oratory often
offends by its extravagance. His works are printed in Migne's Patrologia, vols.
xliv.-xlvi.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Gregorius 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.
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.
Some think that Gregory spent a certain time in retreat before his
consecration as bishop, but we have no proof of the fact. 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 Caesarea
and Ancyra. 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. When Demosthenes,
Governor of Pontus, convened
an assembly of Eastern bishops, a certain Philocares 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.
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.
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 oration over Meletius of Antioch.
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.
Most of his writings treat of the Sacred Scriptures. Gregory is ever
in quest of allegorical interpretations and mystical meanings hidden away beneath
the literal sense of texts. The most important of his theological writings is
his large “Catechesis”, or “Oratio Catechetica”. Among
the works of Gregory are certain “Opuscula” on the Trinity. 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” he undertook to explain why Providence
permits the premature death of children. He wrote also on Christian life and conduct,
e.g. “On the meaning of the Christian name or profession”, and “On
Perfection and what manner of man the Christian should be”. 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. 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.
H. Leclercq, ed.
Transcribed by: Elizabeth T. knuth
This extract is cited May 2003 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.
Gregorius, Nyssenus, St., bishop of Nyssa, in Cappadocia, and a father of the
Greek church, was the younger brother of Basil the Great. He was born at Caesareia,
in Cappadocia, in or soon after A. D. 331. Though we have no express account of
his education, there is no doubt that, like his brother's, it was the best that
the Roman empire could furnish. Like his brother also, he formed an early friendship
with Gregory Nazianzen. He did not, however, share in their religious views; but,
having been appointed a reader in some church, he abandoned the office, and became
a teacher of rhetoric. Gregory Nazianzen remonstrated with him on this step by
letter (Epist. 43), and ultimately he became a minister of the church, being ordained
by his brother Basil to the bishopric of Nyssa, a small place in Cappadocia, about
A. D. 372. As a pillar of orthodoxy, he was only inferior to his brother and his
friend. The Arians persecuted him; and at last, upon a frivolous accusation, drove
him into banishment, A. D. 375, from which, on the death of Valens, he was recalled
by Gratian, A. D. 378. In the following year he was present at the synod of Antioch;
and after visiting his dying sister, Macrina, in Pontus, he went into Arabia,
having been commissioned by the synod of Antioch to inspect the churches of that
country. Front this tour he returned in 380 or 381, visiting Jerusalem in his
way. The state of religion and morality there greatly shocked him, and he expressed
his feelings in a letter against the pilgrimage to the holy city. In 381 he went
to the oecumenical council of Constantinople, taking with him his great work against
the Arian Eunomius, which he read before Gregory Nazianzen and Jerome. In the
council he took a very active part, and he had a principal share in the composition
of the creed, by which the Catholic doctrine respecting the Holy Ghost was added
to the Nicene Creed. On the death of Meletius, the first president of the council,
Gregory was chosen to deliver his funeral oration.
He was present at the second council of Constantinople in 394, and
probably died shortly afterwards. He was married, though he afterwards adopted
the prevailing views of his time in favour of the celibacy of the clergy. Hiswife's
name was Theosebeia.
The reputation of Gregory Nyssen with the ancients was only inferior
to that of his brother, and to that of Gregory Nazianzen. (See especially Phot.
Cod. 6.) Like them, he was an eminent rhetorician, but his oratory often offends
by its extravagance. His theology bears strong marks of the influence of the writings
of Origen.
His works may be divided into: 1. Treatises on doctrinal theology,
chiefly, but not entirely, relating to the Arian controversy, and including also
works against the Appollinarists and the Manichaeans. 2. Treatises on the practical
duties of Christianity. 3. Sermons and Orations. 4. Letters. 5. Biographies. The
only complete edition of Gregory Nyssen is that of Morell and Gretser, 2 vols.
fol. Paris, 1615-1618; reprinted 1638. There are several editions of his separate
works. (Lardner's Credibility; Cave, Hist. Lit. vol. i.; Fabric. Bibl. Graec.
vol. ix.; Schrockh, Christliche Kirchengeschichte, vol. xiv.; F. Rupp, Gregors
von Nyssa Leben und Meinungen, Leipz. 1834, 8vo.; Hoffmann, Lexicon Bibliograph.
Script. Graec.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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