Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/192

Rh and doubtless also by some inward call, to active pastoral labour. The spirit of refined intellectual monasticism, which clung to him through life and never ceased to struggle Hot the ascendency, was about that time strongly encouraged by his intercourse with Basil, who was then revelling in the exalted pleasures of his retirement in Pontus ; the prepara tion of the [ Greek text ], a sort of chrestomathy compiled by the two friends from the writings of Origen, belongs to this period. But the events which were at that time stirring the political and ecclesiastical life of Cappadocia, and indeed of the whole Roman world, made a career of learned leisure difficult if not impossible to a man of Gregory s position and temperament. The emperor Constantius, having by a course of artful intrigue and intimidation succeeded in thrusting a semi-Arian formula upon the Western bishops assembled at Ariminum in Italy, had next attempted to fol low the same course with the Eastern episcopate. The aged bishop of Nazianzus having yielded to the imperial threats, a great storm arose among the monks of the diocese, which was only quelled by the influence of the younger Gregory, who shortly afterwards (about ) was ordained to the priesthood. After a vain attempt to evade his new duties and responsibilities by flight, he appears to have continued to act as a presbyter in his father s diocese without inter ruption for some considerable time ; and it is probable that his two Invectives against Julian are to be assigned to this period. Subsequently (about ), under a pressure which he somewhat resented, he allowed himself to be nominated by Basil as bishop of Sasima, a miserable little village some 32 s from Tyana ; but he seems hardly, if at all, to have assumed the duties of this diocese, for after another interval of " flight" we find him once more (about -) at Nazianzus, assisting his aged father, on whose death he retired to Seleucia in Isauria for a period of some years. Meanwhile a more important field for his activities was opening up. Towards - the small and depressed remnant of the orthodox party in Constantinople sent him an urgent summons to undertake the task of resuscitating the catholic cause, so long persecuted and borne down by the Arians of the capital. With the accession of Theodosius to the imperial throne, the prospect of success to the Nicene doctrine had dawned, if only it could find some courageous and devoted champion. The fame of Gregory as a learned and eloquent disciple of Origen, and still more of Athanasius, pointed him out as such a defender ; nor could he resist the appeal made to him, although he took the step sorely against his will. Once arrived in Constantinople, he laboured so zealously and well that the orthodox party speedily gathered strength and the small apartment in which they had been accustomed to meet was soon ex changed for a vast and celebrated church which received the significant name of Anastasia, the Church of the Resur rection. Among the hearers of Gregory were to be found, not only churchmen like Jerome and Evagrius, but also heretics and heathens ; and it says much for the sound wisdom and practical tact of the preacher that from the outset he set himself less to build up and defend a doctrinal position than to urge his flock to the cultivation of the loving Christian spirit which cherishes higher aims than mere heresy hunting or endless disputation. Doctrinal, nevertheless, he was, as is abundantly shown by the famous five discourses on the Trinity, which earned for him the distinctive appel lation of OeoXoyos (tfeoAoyio. being here used in the stricter sense to designate the doctrine of Christ s divinity, as distin guished from oiKovo/xta, which denotes the doctrine of His incarnation). He continued to labour in the Eastern capital till the arrival of Theodosius, and the visible triumph of the orthodox cause ; the metropolitan see was then con ferred upon him, and after the assembling of the second oscumenical council in he received consecration from Meletius. In consequence, however, of a spirit of discord and envy which had manifested itself in connexion with this promotion, he soon afterwards, in an oration, not without some bitterness of tone, resigned his dignity, and withdrew into comparative retirement. The rest of his days were spent partly at Nazianzus, where he appears still to have mixed himself in ecclesiastical affairs, and partly on his patrimonial estate at Arianzus, where he devoted himself to his favourite literary pursuits, and especially to poetical composition, until his death, which occurred in or. His festival is celebrated in the Eastern Church on January 25tb and 30th, in the Western on 9th May (duplex).

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 GREGORY, undefined,, one of the great Cappadocians, and designated by one of the later œcumenical councils as " a father of fathers," was a younger brother of StBasil, and was born (probably) at Neoctesarea about For his education, which was the best that could be got at that time, he appears to have been chiefly indebted to his elder brother. At a comparatively early age he entered the church, and held for some time the office of anagnost or reader ; subsequently he manifested a desire to devote himself to the secular life as a rhetorician; but this impulse was checked by the earnest remonstrances of Gregory Nazianzen. Finally, in or  he was ordained by his brother Basil to the bishopric of Nyssa, a small town in Cappadocia. Here he is usually said (but on inadequate data) to have adopted the opinion then gaming ground in favour of the celibacy of the clergy, and to have separated from his wife Theosebia, who became a deaconess in the church. His strict orthodoxy on the subject of the Trinity and the Incarnation, together with his vigorous eloquence, combined to make him peculiarly obnoxious to the faction, which was at that time in the ascendant through the protection of the emperor Valens ; and in, on the ground of alleged irregularities in his election, and in the administration of the finances of his diocese, he was driven into exile, whence he did not return till the publication of the edict of Gratian in. Shortly afterwards he took part 