About St. Gregory of Nazianzus

About
St. Gregory of Nazianzus

St. Gregory the Theologian (also known as St. Gregory Theologos) lived from 329 to 390 CE in what's now known as Turkey. Since he lived before the Great Schism of 1054, both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches regard St. Gregory as a Father of the Church. In addition the Roman Catholic Church has honored him with the title, Doctor of the Church. Both churches have also accorded him the title, Theologian, although the Roman Catholic Church often doesn't employ this title, referring to him as St. Gregory of Nazianzus or St. Gregory Nazianzen instead.

Besides St. Gregory, the Eastern Church has only accorded the title Theologian to two other individuals: St. John the Evangelist and Theologian (author of the Gospel according to John) and St. Symeon the New Theologian. Within the Roman Catholic church, St. Gregory and the aforementioned St. John are the only individuals so distinguished. In St. Gregory's case, the title Theologian was bestowed due to the content of five sermons which were preached in the Anastasia Church at Constantinople. In these sermons he expounded and defended the doctrines related to the mystery of the Holy Trinity. Throughout his life, he was a key defender of the Church against the teachings of Arius and Macedonius.

His orations, also known as homilies, are essentially sermons. The quotations found at this site were taken from an online edition of Gregory's orations hosted by New Advent. These orations originally appeared in the book Early Church Fathers, which is now in the public domain. Another electronic version of the Gregory's orations, based on the same text, can be found at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The online edition at Christian Classics Ethereal Library includes hyperlinked footnotes, which can be helpful in identifying the Biblical citations appearing in the text, among other things.

Brief biographical sketches which discuss Gregory's life and contributions can be found on at a number of places on the web, including those published by:

Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, via a Calendar of Eastern Orthodox Saints that's published by the Orthodox Calendar Company.
The Ecole Initiative, an organization which publishes information on Early Church History on the web.
New Advent, via their publication of the Catholic Encyclopedia
The Society of Archbishop Justus, an organization which was founded by a small group of Anglican computer scientists.
Microsoft Network, via it's publication of an abridged edition of Microsoft's Encarta Encyclopedia.