Gregory of Nyssa

Gregory of Nyssa, also known asGregory Nyssen(Ancient Greek:Γρηγόριος Νύσσηςor Γρηγόριος Νυσσηνός; c. 335 – c. 394), was an earlyRoman Christianprelate who served asBishop of Nyssafrom 372 to 376 and from 378 until his death in 394. He is venerated as asaintinEastern Orthodoxy,Catholicism,Oriental Orthodoxy,Anglicanism, andLutheranism. Gregory, his elder brotherBasil of Caesarea, and their friendGregory of Nazianzusare collectively known as theCappadocian Fathers.
Gregory lacked the administrative ability of his brother Basil or the contemporary influence of Gregory of Nazianzus, but he was an eruditeChristian theologianwho made significant contributions to thedoctrine of the Trinityand theNicene Creed. Gregory's philosophical writings were influenced byOrigen. Since the mid-twentieth century, there has been a significant increase in interest in Gregory's works from the academic community, particularly involvinguniversal salvation, which has resulted in challenges to many traditional interpretations of his theology.
TheBook of Actsdepicts that on theDay of Pentecostthere were visiting Jews who were "residents of ...Cappadocia"in attendance. In theFirst Epistle of Peter, written after AD 65, the author greets Christians who are "exiles scattered throughout…Cappadocia". There is no further reference to Cappadocia in the rest of theNew Testament.
Early Christianityarose in Cappadocia relatively late, with no evidence of a Christian community before the late second century AD.Alexander of Jerusalemwas the first bishop of the province in the early to mid-third century, a period in which Christians suffered persecution from the local Roman authorities.The community remained very small throughout the third century: whenGregory Thaumaturgusacceded to the bishopric in c. 250, according to his namesake, the Nyssen, there were only seventeen members of the Church in Caesarea.
Cappadocian bishops were among those at theFirst Council of Nicaea. Because of the broad distribution of the population, rural bishops (χωρεπίσκοποι) were appointed to support theBishop of Caesarea. During the late fourth century, there were around 50 of them. In Gregory's lifetime, the Christians of Cappadocia were devout, with the veneration of theForty Martyrs of SebasteandSaint Georgebeing particularly significant and represented by a considerable monastic presence. There were some adherents of heretical branches of Christianity, most notably Arians,EncratitesandMessalians.
Gregory was aCappadocian Greek,born around 335, probably in or near the city ofNeocaesarea,Pontus.His family was aristocratic and Christian—according toGregory of Nazianzus, his mother wasEmmelia of Caesarea, and his father, a rhetorician, has been identified either asBasil the Elderor as a Gregory.Among his eight siblings wereSt. Macrina the Younger,St. Naucratius,St. Peter of SebasteandSt. Basil of Caesarea. The precise number of children in the family was historically contentious: the commentary on 30 May in theActa Sanctorum, for example, initially states that they were nine, before describing Peter as the tenth child. It has been established that this confusion occurred due to the death of one son in infancy, leading to ambiguities in Gregory's own writings.Gregory's parents had suffered persecution for their faith: he writes that they "had their goods confiscated for confessing Christ."Gregory's paternal grandmother,Macrina the Elder, is also revered as a saintand his maternal grandfather was a martyr, as Gregory put it "killed by Imperial wrath"under the persecution of the RomanEmperor Maximinus II.Between the 320s to the early 340s, the family rebuilt its fortunes, with Gregory's father working in the city of Neocaesarea as an advocate and rhetorician.
Gregory's temperament is said to have been quiet and meek, in contrast to his brother Basil who was known to be much more outspoken.Gregory was first educated at home, by his mother Emmelia and sister Macrina. Little is known of what further education he received. Apocryphal hagiographies depict him studying atAthens, but this is speculation probably based on the life of his brother Basil.It seems more likely that he continued his studies inCaesarea, where he readclassical literature,philosophyand perhapsmedicine.Gregory himself claimed that his only teachers were Basil, "Paul, John and the rest of the Apostles and prophets".
While his brothers Basil and Naucratius lived ashermitsfromc.355, Gregory initially pursued a non-ecclesiastical career as arhetorician. He did, however, act as alector.He is known to have married a woman named Theosebia during this period, who is sometimes identified withTheosebia the Deaconess, venerated as a saint by Orthodox Christianity. This is controversial, however, and other commentators suggest that Theosebia the Deaconess was one of Gregory's sisters.
In 371, theEmperorValenssplit Cappadocia into two new provinces, Cappadocia Prima and Cappadocia Secunda.This resulted in complex changes in ecclesiastical boundaries, during which several new bishoprics were created. Gregory was elected bishop of the newseeofNyssain 372, presumably with the support of his brother Basil, who wasmetropolitanofCaesarea.Gregory's early policies as bishop often went against those of Basil; for instance, while his brother condemned theSabellianistfollowers ofMarcellus of Ancyraasheretics, Gregory may have tried to reconcile them with the church.
Gregory faced opposition to his reign in Nyssa and, in 373,Amphilochius, bishop ofIconium, had to visit the city to quell discontent. In 375, Desmothenes of Pontus convened asynodatAncyrato try Gregory on charges ofembezzlementof church funds and irregular ordination of bishops. He was arrested by imperial troops in the winter of the same year but escaped to an unknown location. The synod of Nyssa, which was convened in the spring of 376, deposed him.However, Gregory regained his see in 378, perhaps due to an amnesty promulgated by the new emperor,Gratian. In the same year Basil died, and despite the relative unimportance of Nyssa, Gregory took over many of his brother's former responsibilities in Pontus.
He was present at theSynodofAntiochin April 379, where he unsuccessfully attempted to reconcile the followers ofMeletius of Antiochwith those ofPaulinus.After visiting the village of Annisa to see his dying sister, Macrina, he returned to Nyssa in August. In 380 he travelled toSebaste, in the province ofArmenia Prima, to support a pro-Nicene candidate for the election to the bishopric. To his surprise, he himself was elected to the seat, perhaps due to the population's association of him with his brother.However, Gregory deeply disliked the relatively unhellenized society of Armenia, and he was confronted by an investigation into his orthodoxy by local opponents of the Nicene theology.After a stay of several months, a substitute was found—possibly Gregory's brother Peter, who was bishop of Sebaste from 381—and Gregory returned home to Nyssa to write books I and II ofAgainstEunomius.
Gregory participated in theFirst Council of Constantinople(381), and perhaps gave there his famous sermonIn suam ordinationem. He was chosen toeulogiseat the funeral of Meletius, which occurred during the council. The council sent Gregory on a mission to Arabia, perhaps to ameliorate the situation inBostrawhere two men, Agapius and Badagius, claimed to be bishop. If this is the case, Gregory was unsuccessful, as the see was still contested in 394.He then travelled toJerusalemwhereCyril of Jerusalemfaced opposition from local clergy due to the fact that he had been ordained byAcacius of Caesarea, anArianheretic. Gregory's attempted mediation of the dispute was unsuccessful, and he himself was accused of holding unorthodoxviews on the nature of Christ.His later reign in Nyssa was marked by conflict with his metropolitan, Helladius. Gregory was present at a 394 synod convened at Constantinople to discuss the continued problems in Bostra. While the year of his death is unknown,it is generally accepted that he died in 394.
The traditional view of Gregory is that he was an orthodoxTrinitarian theologian,who was influenced by theNeoplatonismofPlotinusand believed inuniversal salvationfollowingOrigen.However, as a highly original and sophisticated thinker, Gregory is difficult to classify, and many aspects of his theology are contentious among both conservativeEastern Orthodoxtheologians and Western academic scholarship.This is often due to the lack of systematic structure and the presence of terminological inconsistencies in Gregory's work.
Gregory, following Basil, defined the Trinity as "one essence [οὐσία] in three persons [ὑποστάσεις]", the formula adopted by the Council of Constantinople in 381.Like the other Cappadocian Fathers, he was ahomoousian, andAgainst Eunomiusaffirms the truth of theconsubstantialityof the trinity over Eunomius' Aristotelian belief that the Father's substance is unengendered, whereas the Son's is engendered.According to Gregory, the differences between the three persons of the Trinity reside in their differing hypostatic origin, and the triune nature of God is revealed through divine action (despite the unity of God in His action).The Son is therefore defined as begotten of the Father, the Holy Spirit as proceeding from the Father, and the Father by his role as progenitor. However, this doctrine would seem tosubordinatethe Son to the Father, and the Holy Spirit to the Son.Robert Jensonsuggests that Gregory implies that each member of theGodheadhas an individual priority: the Son hasepistemological priority, the Father hasontic priorityand the Spirit hasmetaphysical priority.Other commentators disagree:Morwenna Ludlow, for instance, argues that epistemic priority resides primarily in the Spirit in Gregory's theology.
Modern proponents ofsocial trinitarianismoften claim to have been influenced by the Cappadocians' dynamic picture of the Trinity.However, it would be fundamentally incorrect to identify Gregory as a social Trinitarian, as his theology emphasises the unity of God's will, and he clearly believes that theidentitiesof the Trinity are the three persons, not the relations between them.
Gregory was one of the first theologians to argue that God isinfinite. His main argument for the infinity of God, found inAgainst Eunomius, is that God's goodness is limitless, and as God's goodness isessential, God is also limitless.
An important consequence of Gregory's belief in the infinity of God is his belief that God, as limitless, is essentially incomprehensible to the limited minds of created beings. InLife of Moses, Gregory writes: "...every concept that comes from some comprehensible image, by an approximate understanding and by guessing at the Divine nature, constitutes an idol of God and does not proclaim God."Gregory's theology was thusapophatic: he proposed that God should be defined in terms of what we know He is not rather than what we might speculate Him to be.
Accordingly, the Nyssen taught that due to God's infinitude, a created being can never reach an understanding of God, and thus for man in both life and the afterlife there is aconstant progression[ἐπέκτασις] towards the unreachable knowledge of God, as the individual continually transcends all which has been reached before.In theLife of Moses, Gregory speaks of three stages of this spiritual growth: initial darkness ofignorance, then spiritualillumination, and finally a darkness of the mind in mysticcontemplationof the God who cannot be comprehended.
Gregory was one of the earlier proponents ofChristian universalism. Gregory argues that when Paul says that God will be "all in all" (1 Cor. 15:28), this means that though some may need to undergo a long period of purification, eventually "no being will remain outside the number of the saved"and that "no being created by God will fall outside the Kingdom of God".Due to the unity of human nature in Christ "all, thanks to the union with one another, will be joined in communion with the Good, in Jesus Christ Our Lord".Christ's incarnation, death and resurrection results in "total salvation for human nature".
Gregory also described God's work this way: "His [God's] end is one, and one only; it is this: when the complete whole of our race shall have been perfected from the first man to the last—some having at once in this life been cleansed from evil, others having afterwards in the necessary periods been healed by the Fire, others having in their life here been unconscious equally of good and of evil—to offer to every one of us participation in the blessings which are in Him, which, the Scripture tells us, 'eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,' nor thought ever reached."That this is what Gregory believed and taught is affirmed by most scholars.A minority of scholars have argued that Gregory only affirmed the universal resurrection.
In theLife of Moses, Gregory writes that just as the darkness left the Egyptians after three days, perhaps redemption [ἀποκατάστασις] will be extended to those suffering inhell[γέεννα].This salvation may not only extend to humans; followingOrigen, there are passages where he seems to suggest (albeit through the voice of Macrina) that even thedemonswill have a place in Christ's "world of goodness".Gregory's interpretations of 1 Corinthians 15:28 ("And when all things shall be subdued unto him ...")and Philippians 2:10 ("That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth")support this understanding of his theology.
Nevertheless, in theGreat Catechism, Gregory suggests that while every human will beresurrected, salvation will only be accorded to thebaptised, although he also states that others driven by their passions can be saved after being purified by fire.While he believes that there will be no more evil in the hereafter, it is arguable that this does not preclude a belief that God might justly damn sinners for eternity.Thus, the main difference between Gregory's conception of ἀποκατάστασις and that of Origen would be that Gregory believes that mankind will be collectively returned to sinlessness, whereas Origen believes that personal salvation will be universal.This interpretation of Gregory has recently been criticized, however.After all, at the end of chapter XXXV of theGreat CatechismGregory writes that those who have not been purified by water through baptism "must needs be purified by fire" so that "after long succeeding ages, their nature may be restored pure again to God".
Attempting to reconcile these disparate positions,Eastern Orthodoxtheologian Dr. Mario Baghos notes that "when taken at face value the saint seems to be contradicting himself in these passages; on the one hand he asserted the salvation of all and the complete eradication of evil, and, on the other, that the fire needed to purge evil is 'sleepless', i.e. everlasting. The only solution to this inconsistency is to view any allusion to universal salvation in St Gregory as an expression of God's intention for humanity, which is in fact attested to when his holy sister states that God has "one goal ... some straightway even in this life purified from evil, others healed hereafter through fire for the appropriate length of time." That we can choose either to accept or ignore this purification is confirmed by the saint's many exhortations that we freely undertake the virtuous path."Dr.Ilaria Ramellihas made the observation that for Gregory free will was compatible with universal salvation since every person would eventually accept the good having gone through purification.Nevertheless, some interpret Gregory as conceding that Judas and similar sinners will never be completely purified when he wrote, "that which never existed is to be preferred to that which has existed in such sin. For, as to the latter, on account of the depth of the ingrained evil, the chastisement in the way of purgation will be extended into infinity".However, Ramelli renders the original Greek "εἰς ἄπειρον παρατείνεται ἡ διὰ τῆς καθάρσεως κόλασις" as "the punishment provided for the purpose of purification will tend to an indefinite duration."
Gregory'santhropologyis founded on the ontological distinction between thecreatedand uncreated. Man is a material creation, and thus limited, but infinite in that hisimmortal soulhas an indefinite capacity to grow closer to the divine.Gregory believed that the soul is created simultaneous to the creation of the body (in opposition to Origen, who believed inpreexistence), and thatembryoswere thus persons. To Gregory, the human being is exceptional, being created in theimage of God.Humanity istheomorphicboth in having self-awareness andfree will, the latter which gives each individual existential power, because to Gregory, in disregarding God one negates one's own existence.In theSong of Songs, Gregory metaphorically describes human lives as paintings created by apprentices to a master: the apprentices (the human wills) imitate their master's work (the life of Christ) with beautiful colours (virtues), and thus man strives to be a reflection of Christ.Gregory, in stark contrast to most thinkers of his age, saw great beauty inthe Fall: from Adam's sin from two perfect humans would eventually arise myriad.
Gregory was the first voice in the ancient world known to write against all forms of slavery, declaring the institution inherently sinful.
Gregory used Plato's definition of virtue as ‘something that admits of no master [ἀδέσποτον]’ in the service of his own theological arguments against slavery: (1) each human is an image of God and therefore free, (2) the equality of all humans reflects the equality of the divine Persons and (3) just as the divine nature cannot be divided into slavery (δουλεία) and mastery (δυναστεία, κυριότης), neither can human nature; the whole creation is a slave but of God alone.
Although the stoicSenecahad criticized cruel slave masters andadvised slave masters to treat slaves with kindness(or at least those of good character), thestoicsnever questioned the institution of slavery, which was considered an ordinary part of daily life in the ancient world; and other ancient philosophers such asPlatoandAristotlealso supported slavery.Gregory of Nyssa's critique was the first and only sustained critique of the institution of slavery itself made in the ancient world.
There are many similarities between Gregory'stheologyandneoplatonistphilosophy, especially that ofPlotinus.Specifically, they share the idea that the reality of God is completely inaccessible to human beings and that man can only come to see God through a spiritual journey in which knowledge [γνῶσις] is rejected in favour ofmeditation.Gregory does not refer to any neoplatonist philosophers in his work, and there is only one disputed passage which may directly quote Plotinus.Considering this, it seems possible that Gregory was familiar with Plotinus and perhaps other figures in neoplatonism. However, some significant differences between neoplatonism and Gregory's thought exist, such as Gregory's statement that beauty and goodness are equivalent, which contrasts with Plotinus' view that they are two different qualities.However Plotinus does say "And Beauty, this Beauty which is also the Good" implying the Platonist One which is the Good is also Beauty.
Eastern Orthodoxtheologians are generally critical of the theory that Gregory was influenced by neoplatonism. For example,Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktosargues inLife After Deaththat Gregory opposed all philosophical (as opposed to theological) endeavour as tainted with worldliness.This view is supported byAgainst Eunomius, where Gregory denounces Eunomius for placing the results of his systematicAristoteleanphilosophy above the traditional teachings of the Church.
TheEastern OrthodoxandEastern Catholic Churchescommemorate Gregory of Nyssa on 10 January. Roman Catholics following editions of theRoman Martyrologypublished prior to theSecond Vatican Councilalong with theEpiscopal Churchcommemorate his death on 9 March. Editions of the Roman Martyrology published after the year 2000 list his feast day under 10 January.TheLutheran Church–Missouri Synodcommemorates Gregory along with the otherCappadocian Fatherson 10 January.
Gregory isremembered(withMacrina) in theChurch of Englandwith alesser festivalon 19 July.
Gregory is revered as a saint. However, unlike the other Cappadocian fathers, he is not aDoctor of the Church. He is venerated chiefly in the East. Hisrelicswere held by theVaticanuntil 2000 when a portion of them were transferred to theGreek Orthodoxchurch of St. Gregory of Nyssa,San Diego,California.
Professor of theology, Natalie Carnes wrote: "One reason Gregory was not taken up into the theological stream in the West is that he was little translated into Latin.John Scotus Eriugena(c. 800–c. 877) should be greatly credited for the influence Gregory did have. Not only was Eriugena himself influenced by Gregory, but he also translatedOn the Making of the Humaninto Latin."
Gregory's work received little scholarly attention in the West until the mid-twentieth century, and he was historically treated as a minor figure in comparison to Basil the Great or Gregory of Nazianzus.As late as 1942,Hans Urs von Balthasarwrote that his work was virtually unknown.However, the 6th-century Latin translation ofDe opificio hominisbyDionysius Exiguuswas very widespread in the Medieval period, and Francisco Bastitta Harriet argues that Nyssen's conceptions of indeterminate human nature and ontological freedom were among the core influences on Renaissance anthropology, particularly on the works ofNicholas of CusaandGiovanni Pico della Mirandola."The renewed enthusiasm of 15th-century philosophers and humanists for classical antiquity also led to a revival of the study and translation of Greek patristic works. Against this background, some of Gregory of Nyssa’s works which remained unknown to the West during the medieval centuries received their first Latin translations by leading representatives of Italian and Byzantine culture."These include the early Renaissance translations ofDe vita MoysisbyGeorge of Trebizondin 1446, ofDe vita MacrinaeandDe anima et resurrectionebyPietro Balbibetween 1465 and 1473, and ofDe oratione dominicaby the Byzantine scholar Athanasius Chalkeopoulos around 1465.
In part due to the scholarship of Balthasar andJean Daniélou, by the 1950s Gregory had become the subject of much serious theological research, with a critical edition of his work published (Gregorii Nysseni Opera), and the founding of the International Colloquium on Gregory of Nyssa.This attention has continued to the present day. Modern studies have focused on Gregory'seschatologyrather than his more dogmatic writings, and he has gained a reputation as an unconventional thinker whose thought arguably prefigurespostmodernism.Major figures in contemporary research includeSarah Coakley,John Zizioulasand Robert Jenson.In 2003, theologianDavid Bentley Hartpublished a book seemingly influenced by Gregory.
In 787 AD, theSecond Council of Nicea, the seventhEcumenical Council of the Church, honored Gregory of Nyssa:
Henry Fairfield Osbornwrote in his work on thehistory of evolutionary thought,From the Greeks to Darwin(1894):
Anthony Meredithwrites of Gregory's mystical and apophatic writings in his bookGregory of Nyssa (The Early Church Fathers)(1999):
J. Kameron Carterwrites about Gregory's stance on slavery, in the bookRace a Theological Account(2008):
Catholic theologian and authorHans Urs von Balthasar, describes Gregory in his bookPresence and Thought: An Essay on the Religious Philosophy of Gregory of Nyssa (1988):
The complete works of Gregory of Nyssa are published in the original Greek with Latin commentary asGregorii Nysseni Opera:
The following are editions of English translations of Gregory's writings: