Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/327

Rh GREGORIUS. when, at the commencement of the service, the sun burst forth and filled the church with his light, all the orthodox accepted it as a sign from heaven, and Ciilled out to the emperor to make Gregory bishop of Constantinople. The cry was with difficulty appeased for the time, and shortly afterwards Gre- gory was compelled to accept the office. As the head of the orthodox party, Gregory used their ..victory with a healing moderation, at least accord- ing to the ideas of his time, for the suppression of the public worship of the heretics by the edicts of Theodosius was not regarded by him as an act of persecution. On the other hand, many of the Arians regarded him with the deepest enmity, and he relates a romantic story of an assassin, who came with other visitors into his room, but was conscience-stricken, and confessed his guilt : Gre- gory dismissed him with his benediction. The affairs of the church were administered by him with diligence and integritj', and he paid no more court to the emperor than the etiquette of his rank required. Several of his sermons belong to the year of his patriarchate. At the beginning of the year 381, Theodosius convoked the celebrated council of Constantinople, the second of the oecumenical councils. One of its earliest acts was to confirm Gregory in the patri- archate of Constantinople, and soon after, in con- sequence of the sudden death of Meletius, he became president of the council. He soon found, however, that he had not the power to nile it. He was too good and moderate, perhaps also too weak and indolent, to govern a general council in that age. His health also was very infirm. He gradually withdrew himself from the sittings of the council, and showed a disposition to lay down his bishopric. His chief opponents, the Egyptian and Macedonian bishops, seized the opportunity to attack him, on the ground that he could not hold the bishopric of Constantinople, as he was already bishop of Na- zianzus, and the church did not permit translations. Upon this he gladly resigned his office. His re- signation was accepted without hesitation by the council and the emperor, and he took leave of the people of Constantinople in a discourse which is the noblest effort of his eloquence. He returned to Cappadocia, and, the course of his journey lead- ing him t9 Caesareia, he there delivered his ad- mirable funeral oration upon Basil. Finding the bishopric of Nazianzus still vacant, he discharged its duties until, in the following year, 383, he found a suitable successor in his cousin Eidalius. He now finally retired to his long-sought solitude, at his paternal estate at Arianzus, where the enjoy- ment of quiet philosophical meditation was mingled with the review of his past life, which he recorded in an Iambic poem. This work breathes a spirit of contentment, derived from an approving con- science, but not unmixed with complaints of the ingratitude and disappointment which he had en- countered in the discharge of duties he had never sought, and lamentations over the evil times on which he had fallen. He draws a melancholy picture of the character of the clergy of his time, derived chiefly from his experience of the council of Constantinople. He also wrote other poems, and several letters, in his retirement. He died in 389 or 390. After the account given of his life, little remains to be said of his character. His natural disposition partook of the two qualities, which are often found united, impetuosity and indolence. GREGORIUS. 513 The former was tempered by sincere and humble piety, and by a deep conviction of the benefits of moderation ; the latter was aggravated by his notions of philosophic quietism, and by his con tinual encounters with difiiculties above his strength. He was a perfectly honest man. His mind, though highly cultivated, was of no great power. His poems are not above mediocrity, and his discourses, though sometimes really eloquent, are generally nothing more than favourable specimens of the rhetoric of the schools. He is more earnest than Chrysostom, but not so ornamental. He is more artificial, but also, in spirit, more attractive, than Basil. Biblical theology has gained but little from either of these writers, whose chief aim was to explain and enforce the dogmas of the Catholic church. The works of Gregory Nazianzen are, 1. Ora- tions or Sermons ; 2. Letters ; 3. Poems ; 4. His Will. The following are the most important editions of the works of Gregory Nazianzen : — An editio jriin- cepb Basil. 1550, folio, containing the Greek text, and the lives of Gregory by Suidas, Sophronius, and Gregory the presbyter. A Latin version was published at the same place and time, in a separate volume. 2. Morell's edition, after the text of Billius, 2 vols. fol. Paris. 1609—1611 ; a new and improved edition, 1630 ; a careless reprint, Colon. (Lips.), 1690. 3. Another edition, after Billius, by ToUius and Muratorius, Venet. 1753. 4. The Benedictine edition, of which only the first volume was published : it was commenced by Louvart, continued by Maron, and finished by Clemencet. It contains only the discourses, preceded by an excellent life of Gregory, Paris. 1778. The dis- courses are placed in a new order by Clemencet. The numbers used in this article are those of Bil- lius. The edition of Billius only contains a part of Gregory's poems. The principal edition of the remainder is by ToUius, under the title of Car- mina Cygnea^ in his Insignia Itinerarii Jtalici^ Traj. ad Rhen. 1696, 4to., reprinted, 1709. Muratori further discovered several of Gregory's epigrams, which he published in his Anecdota Giaeca, Patav. 1709, 4to. These epigrams form a part of the Palatine Anthology, and are published more accurately in Jacobs's edition of the Palatine Anthology, b. viii. vol. i. pp. 539 — 604 ; and in Boissonade's Poet. Graec. Sylloge^ Paris, 1824, &c. There are many other editions of parts of his works. (The authorities for Gregory's life, besides those already quoted, are the lives of him by Nicetas and by Gregory the presbyter, the Eccle- siastical Histories of Socrates and Sozomen, the works of Baronius, Tilleraont, Fleury, Du Pin, Lardner, Le Clerc ; Cave, Hist. Lit. vol. 1. p. 246 ; Fabric. DU. Graec. vol. viii. p. 383 ; Schrockh, CAristliche Kirchengeschichte^ vol. xiii. p. 268 ; UU- mann, Gregorius von Nazianz^ der Theologe^ ein Beitrag zur Kirchen und Dogmengeschichte des vierten Jahrhunderts^ Darmst. 1825, 8vo. ; Hoff- mann, Leaicon Bibliographicum Scriptorum Grae- corum.) [p s ] GREGO'RIUS NYSSE'NUS, ST., bisho'p 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 Komau