St Gregory of Nyssa (c 335-c 395)

[Mary Naeem]

St Gregory of Nyssa (c 335-c 395)

St Gregory of Nyssa (c 335-c 395) wrote the Life and Panegyric of Gregory drawing on family traditions and a knowledge of the neighbourhood, the facts for which, were supplied to the writer by his grandmother, St Macrina the Elder (c 270-c 340). He relates that before his episcopal consecration, Gregory retired from Neocaesarea into a solitude and was favoured by an apparition of the Blessed Virgin and John the Apostle and that the latter dictated to him a creed or formula of Christian faith, of which the autograph existed at Neocaesarea when the biography was being written. The creed itself is important for the history of Christian doctrine.
St Gregory of Nyssa describes at length the miracles that gained for the Bishop of Caesarea the title of Thaumaturgus. It is clear that Gregory’s influence must have been considerable and his miraculous power undoubted. It might have been expected that Gregory’s name would appear among those who took part in the First Council of Antioch against Paul of Samosata; probably he took part also in the second council held there, for the letter of that council is signed by a bishop named Theodore, which had been originally Gregory’s name. To attract the people to the festivals in honour of the martyrs, Gregory organised amusements that might appeal to pagans, who were accustomed to religious ceremonies that combined solemnity with pleasure and merrymaking.