St. Gregory of Nyssa
“That they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you.”
St. Gregory defended Nicene faith and wrote enduring works on the Trinity, creation, spiritual growth, and the Christian search for God.
The story
Gregory was born around 335 into a prominent Christian family in Cappadocia, in present-day Turkey. His parents were Basil the Elder and Emmelia. Among his siblings were St. Basil the Great and St. Macrina the Younger. Gregory received a strong education and worked for a time as a teacher of rhetoric. Evidence concerning his marital state is debated, though an early source associates him closely with a woman named Theosebia.
Around 372, Basil, then bishop of Caesarea, made Gregory bishop of the small town of Nyssa. Gregory was intellectually gifted but initially less skilled in administration and ecclesiastical politics. Opponents of the Nicene faith accused him of financial misconduct. An Arian-leaning synod deposed him in 376, and he endured exile. After Emperor Valens died in 378, Gregory returned to his diocese and was welcomed by his people.
The deaths of Basil in 379 and Macrina soon afterward deeply affected him. Gregory recorded his final conversation with Macrina in the Life of Macrina. He then assumed a more prominent role in defending the Church’s teaching that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one God in three divine Persons. He attended the Council of Constantinople in 381, which reaffirmed the Nicene faith and confessed the divinity of the Holy Spirit.
Gregory’s major writings include Against Eunomius, The Great Catechism, On the Making of Man, The Life of Moses, and homilies on the Song of Songs. He taught that the human person is created in God’s image and that growth in holiness is a continuing movement into the inexhaustible mystery of God. He died around 395, though the precise date and place are unknown. Gregory was venerated from antiquity in both East and West, before formal papal canonization procedures existed. He is remembered as one of the three great Cappadocian Fathers, together with Basil and St. Gregory of Nazianzus. The Roman Martyrology lists him on January 10.
What Gregory teaches
St. Gregory teaches that sound theology should lead to worship, holiness, and love. The mystery of the Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life, as stated in CCC 234. Seek truth patiently, knowing that God always exceeds the limits of human understanding.
Patronage
theologians, Christian philosophers, Cappadocia, students of Scripture.
Prayer
Triune God, through the intercession of St. Gregory of Nyssa, deepen our faith in your revealed truth. Purify our minds from error and our hearts from pride. Draw us into the holiness and unity that come from sharing your divine life. Amen.