Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/322

Rh 308 GREGORIUS. Jiot unlikely that this Gregory was the person ap- pointed bishop, though Bollandus and Tillemont argue against their identity. His establishment at Alexandria was effected by military force, but Socrates, and Theophanes, who follows him, are probably wrong in making Syrianus commander of that force : he was the agent in establishing Gre- gory's successor, George of Cappadocia. [Georgius, No. 7.] Athanasius escaped with considerable difficulty, being surprised in the church during divine service. Very contradictory accounts are given of the con- duct and fate of Gregory. If we may trust the statements of Athanasius, which have been col- lected by Tillemont, he was a violent persecutor, sharing in the outrages offered to the solitaries, virgins, and ecclesiastics of the Trinitarian party, and sitting on the tribunal by the side of the ma- gistrates by whom the persecution was carried on. That considerable harshness was employed against the orthodox is clear, after making all reasonable deduction from the statements of Athanasius, whose position as a party in the quarrel renders his evi- dence less trustworthy. The Arians had now the upper hand, and evidently abused their predomi- nance; though it may be judged from an expres- sion of Athanasius {Encyc. ad Episcop. Epistola, c. 3), and from the fact that the orthodox party burnt the church of Dionysius at Alexandria, that their opponents were sufficiently violent. The close of Gregory's episcopate is involved, both as to its time and manner, in some doubt. He was still in pos- session of the see at the time of the council of Sar- dica, by which he was declared to be not only no bishop, but no Christian, a. d. 347; but according to Athanasius, he died before the return of that prelate from his second exile, A. d. 349. He held the pa- triarchate, according to this account, about eight years. Socrates and Sozomen agree in stating that he was deposed by the Arian party, apparently about A. D. 354, because he had become unpopular through the burning of the church of Dionysius, and other calamities caused by his appointment, and because he was not strenuous enough in sup- port of his party. The account of Theodoret, which is followed by Theophanes, appears to have origi- nated in some confusion of Gregory with his suc- cessor. (Athanasius, Encyc. ad Episcop. Epistola; Histor. Arian, ad Monachos^ c. 1 1 — 18, 54, 75 ; Socrat. H. E. ii. 10, 11, 14 ; Sozom. H. E. iii. 5, 6, 7 ; Theodoret. H. E. ii. 4, 12 ; Phot. Bibl, Codd. 257, 258; Philostorg. /f. ^'. ii. 18; Theo- phanes, Chronog. vol. i. p. 54, 56, ed. Bonn ; Tillemont, Memoires, vol. viii.) 4. Ankponymus. [Georgius, No. 41, Peri- patetic us.] 5. Of Antioch, was originally a monk in one of the convents of Constantinople, or in a convent called the convent of the Byzantines, which Va- lesius supposes to have been somewhere in Syria. Here he became eminent as an ascetic at an early age, and was chosen abbot of the convent. From Constantinople, he was removed by the emperor Justin II. to the abbacy of the convent of Mount Sinai. Here he was endangered by the Scenite (or Bedouin) Arabs, who besieged the monastery ; but he succeeded in bringing them into peaceable re- lations to its inmates. On the deposition of Anastasius, patriarch of Antioch, about a. d. 570 or 571 (Baronius erroneously places it in 573), he GREGORIUS. was appointed his successor ; and in that see, ac- cording to Evagrius, he acquired, by his charity to the poor and his fearlessness of the secular power, the respect both of the Byzantine emperor and the Persian king. When Chosroes I., or Khosru, in- vaded the Roman empire (a. d. 572), he sent the intelligence of his inroad to the emperor. Anatolius, an intimate friend of Gregory, having been detected in the practice of magic, in sacrificing to heathen deities, and in other crimes, the popu- lace of Antioch regarded the patriarch as the sharer of his guilt, and violently assailed him. The at- tention of the emperor Tiberius II. was drawn to the matter, and he ordered Anatolius to be sent to Constantinople, where he was put to the torture: but the culprit did not accuse Gregory of any par- ticipation in his crimes, and was, after being tortured, put to death, being thrown to the wild beasts of the amphitheatre, and his body impaled or crucified. Though delivered from this danger, Gregory soon incurred another. He quarrelled with Asterius, count of the East ; and the nobles and populace of Antioch took part against him, every one declaring that he had suffered some injury from him. He was insulted by the mob ; and though Asterius was removed, his successor, Joannes or John, was scarcely less hostile. Being ordered to inquire into the disputes which had taken place, he invited any who had any charge against the bishop to prefer it ; and Gregory was in consequence accused of incest with his own sister, a married woman, and with being the author of the disturbances in the city of Antioch. To the latter charge he ex- pressed his willingness to plead before the tribunal of count John, but with respect to the charge of incest, he appealed to the judgment of the emperor, and of an ecclesiastical council. In pursuance of this appeal he went to Constantinople, taking Evagrius, the ecclesiastical historian, with him as his advocate. This was about a. d. 58&. [Eva GRius, No. 3.] A council of the leading prelates was convened ; and Gregory, after a severe struggle with those opposed to him, obtained an acquittal, and returned to Antioch, the same year. When the mutinous soldiers of the army on the Persian fron- tier had driven away their general Priscus, and refused to receive and acknowledge Philippicus, whom the emperor Maurice had sent to succeed him [German us. No. 5], Gregory was sent, on account of his popularity with the troops, to bring them back to their duty: his address, which is preserved by Evagrius, was effectual, and the mu- tineers agreed to receive Philippicus, who was sent to them. When Chosroes II. of Persia was com- pelled to seek refuge in the Byzantine empire (a. d. 590 or 591), Gregory was sent by the em- peror to meet him. Gregory died of gout a. d. 593 or 594, having, there is reason to believe, previously resigned his see into the hands of the deposed pa- triarch Anastasius. He was an opponent of the Acephali, or disciples of Severus of Antioch, who were becoming numerous in the Syrian desert, and whom he either expelled or obliged to renounce their opinions. The extant works of Gregory are, 1. AvfJ-oyopla irpds rov ^rpardv^ Oratio ad Exer- citum, preserved, as noticed above, by Evagrius, and given in substance by Nicephorus Callisti. 2. 'Y0S els rds Mvpo<p6povSy Oratio in MuHeres Un- gue?iti/eras, preserved in the Greek Menaea^ and given in the Novum Auctarium of Combefis, Paris, 1648, vol. i. p. 727. Both these pieces are in the