Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/325

Rh GREGORIUS. was entrapped by the Arians, through his desire for peace, into the signature of the confession of Ariminum, an act which caused the orthodox monks of Nazianzus to form a violent party against him. The schism was healed by the aid of his son Gre- gory, and the old bishop made a renewed public confession of his orthodoxy, which satisfied his opponents, 363. In the year 370 he, with his^son, used every effort to secure the elevation of Basil to the bishopric of Caesareia ; indeed, the intemperate zeal of the two Gregories seems to have embittered the Arians against Basil. All the other events of his life, of any importance, are related in the next article. (Greg. Nazianz. Or«i?. xix.) [P- S.] GREGO'RIUS NAZIANZE'NUS, ST., sur- named @e6oyos, from his zeal in the defence of the N icene doctrine*, was one of the most eminent fathers of the Greek Church. He was born at Arianzus, a village in Cappadocia, not far from Nazianzus, the city of which his father was the bishop, and from Avhich both father and son took the surname of Nazianzen. There is some doubt about the date of his birth. The statement of Suidas (s. v.) is directly at variance with several known facts in his life. In all probability he was born in, or very shortly before, the year 329. His mother Nonna, a zealous and devout Christian, had devoted him even in the womb to the service of God, and ex- erted herself to the utmost in training his infant mind to this destiny. In that age of miracles and visions, we are not surprised to find that Gregory, while yet a boy, was visited by a dream, which excited in him the resolution, to which he was ever stedfast, to live a life of asceticism and celibacj'-, withdrawn from the world, and in the service of God and the church. Meanwhile, his father took the greatest care of his education in the sciences and arts. From the care of able teachers at Cae- sareia he proceeded to Palestine, where he studied eloquence ; thence he went to Alexandria, and finally his zeal for knowledge led him to Athens, then the focus of all learning. On his voyage, the vessel encountered a tremendous storm, which ex- cited in hira great terror, because he had not yet been baptized. The time of his arrival at Athens seems to have been about, or before a. d, 350. He applied himself ardently to the study of language, poetry, rhetoric, philosophy, mathematics, and also of physic and music. At Athens Gregory formed his friendship with Basil. [Basilius ] Here also he met with Julian, whose dangerous character he is said to have discerned even thus early. On the departure of Basil from Athens, in 355, Gregory would have accompanied his friend ; but, at the urgent request of the whole body of students, he remained there as a teacher of rhetoric, but only till the following year, when he returned home, 356. He now made an open pro- fession of Christianity by receiving baptism ; and, declining to exercise his powers as a rhetorician, either in the courts or in the schools, he set himself to perform his vows of dedication to the service of God. He made a resolution, which he is said to have kept all his life, never to swear. His religion GREGORIUS. dii and ^iSkoyos were used by the orthodox with reference to the Nicene doctrine, which they be- lieved to be contained in the passage of Scripture, ^eds "^u XSyos. It was in this sense that they called the apostle John 6 ^€6oyos. assumed the form of quietism and ascetic virtue. It seems that he would Jiave retired altogether from the world but for the claims which his aged parents had upon his care. He so far, however, gratified his taste for the monastic life, as to visit his friend Basil in his retirement, and to join in his exercises of devotion, A. D. 358 or 359. [Basilius.] But he never became a regular monk. His fiery temper and the circumstances of the age prevailed over the resolves of his youth ; and this quietist, who replies to the remonstrances of Basil on his inactivity, by the strongest aspirations for a life of rest and re- ligious meditation (Epist. xxxii. p. 696), became one of the most restless of mankind. (Comp. Orat V. p. 134.) In the year 360 or 361, Gregory was called from his retirement to the help of his father, who, as the best means of securing his support, and probably also to prevent him from choosing the monastic life, suddenly, and without his consent, ordained him as a presbyter, probably at Christmas, 361. Gregory showed his dislike to this proceeding by imme- diately rejoining Basil, but the entreaties of his father and of many of the people of Nazianzus, backed by the fear that he might be, like Jonah, fleeing from his duty, induced him to return home, about Easter, 362. At that feast he preached his first sermon (Orat. xL), which, as it seems, he af- terwards expanded into a fuller discourse, which was published but never preached (Orat. i.), in which he defends himself against the charges that his flight from Nazianzus had occasioned, and sets forth the duties and difficulties of a Christian minis- ter. It is called his Apologetic Discourse. He was now for some time engaged in the discharge of his duties as a presbyter, and in assisting his aged father in his episcopal functions, as well as in com- posing the differences between him and the monks of Nazianzus, the happy termination of which he celebrated in three orations. (Orat. xii. — xiv.) In the mean time Julian had succeeded to the throne of Constantius (a. d. 361), and Gregory, like his friend Basil, was soon brought into collision Avith the apostate emperor, from whose court he' persuaded his brother Caesarius to retire. [Cae- SARius, St.] Whether the unsupported statement of Gregory, that he and his friend Basil were marked out as the first victims of a new general persecution on Julian's return from Persia, can be relied upon or not, it is certain that the passions of the emperor would soon have over- come his affectation of philosophy, and that his pretended indifference, but real disfavour, towards Christianity, would have broken out into a fierce persecution. The deliverance from this danger by the fall of Julian (b. c. 363) was celebrated by Gregory in two orations against the emperor's me- mory (yoi (TTriALTeuTiKol, Orat. iii. and iv.), which are distinguished more for warmth of in- vective than either for real eloquence or Christian temper. They were never delivered. In the year 364, when Basil was deposed by his bishop, Eusebius, Gregory again accompanied him to his retreat in Pontus, and was of great service in effecting his reconciliation with Eusebius, which took place in 365. He also assisted Basil most powerfully against the attacks of Valens and the Arian bishops of Cappadocia. For the next five years he seems to have been occupied with his duties at Nazianzus, in the midst of domestic troubles, the iilnebs of his parents, and the death X 4
 * In the Arian controversy, the terms ^eoXoyla