Gregory of Nyssa (The Early Church Fathers) and millions of other books are available for Amazon Kindle. This item:Gregory of Nyssa (The Early Church Fathers) by Anthony Meredith Paperback $ Start reading Gregory of Nyssa (The Early Church Fathers) on your Kindle in under a.
Table of contents
On the vigil of Easter in , an Arian mob burst into his church during worship services, wounding Gregory and killing another bishop. Escaping the mob, Gregory next found himself betrayed by his erstwhile friend, the philosopher Maximus the Cynic. Maximus, who was in secret alliance with Peter, bishop of Alexandria, attempted to seize Gregory's position and have himself ordained bishop of Constantinople. However, the episode left him embarrassed and exposed him to criticism as a provincial simpleton unable to cope with intrigues of the imperial city. Affairs in Constantinople remained confused as Gregory's position was still unofficial and Arian priests occupied many important churches.
The arrival of the emperor Theodosius in settled matters in Gregory's favor. The emperor, determined to eliminate Arianism, expelled Bishop Demophilus. Gregory was subsequently enthroned as bishop of Constantinople at the Basilica of the Apostles, replacing Demophilus. Theodosius wanted to further unify the entire empire behind the orthodox position and decided to convene a church council to resolve matters of faith and discipline.
In the spring of they convened the Second Ecumenical Council in Constantinople, which was attended by Eastern bishops. After the death of the presiding bishop, Meletius of Antioch , Gregory was selected to lead the Council.
Frequently bought together
Hoping to reconcile the West with the East, he offered to recognize Paulinus as Patriarch of Antioch. The Egyptian and Macedonian bishops who had supported Maximus's ordination arrived late for the Council. Once there, they refused to recognise Gregory's position as head of the church of Constantinople, arguing that his transfer from the See of Sasima was canonically illegitimate.
- Unheilig: Der Graf - Geboren um zu singen. Die inoffizielle Biografie. (German Edition)?
- Judgment (The Jury Series Book 1);
- Navigation menu!
Gregory was physically exhausted and worried that he was losing the confidence of the bishops and the emperor. I was responsible for the storm, but I would sacrifice myself for the salvation of the ship. Seize me and throw me I was not happy when I ascended the throne, and gladly would I descend it. The emperor, moved by his words, applauded, commended his labor and granted his resignation. The Council asked him to appear once more for a farewell ritual and celebratory orations. Gregory used this occasion to deliver a final address Or. Returning to his homeland of Cappadocia, Gregory once again resumed his position as bishop of Nazianzus.
He spent the next year combating the local Apollinarian heretics and struggling with periodic illness. He also began composing De Vita Sua , his autobiographical poem. Gregory established Eulalius as bishop of Nazianzus and then withdrew into the solitude of Arianzum. After enjoying six peaceful years in retirement at his family estate, he died on 25 January in Throughout his life Gregory faced stark choices. Should he pursue studies as a rhetor or philosopher? Would a monastic life be more appropriate than public ministry? Was it better to blaze his own path or follow the course mapped for him by his father and Basil?
- Mishas Nutcracker.
- Power & Peace.
- The Spirit of Hindu Law.
- Gilles Deleuze: Essential Guides for Literary Studies (Routledge Critical Thinkers).
Gregory's writings illuminate the conflicts which both tormented and motivated him. Biographers suggest that it was this dialectic which defined him, forged his character and inspired his search for meaning and truth. Gregory's most significant theological contributions arose from his defense of the doctrine of the Trinity. He is especially noted for his contributions to the field of pneumatology —that is, theology concerning the nature of the Holy Spirit.
He emphasized that Jesus did not cease to be God when he became a man, nor did he lose any of his divine attributes when he took on human nature. Furthermore, Gregory asserted that Christ was fully human, including a full human soul. He also proclaimed the eternality of the Holy Spirit, saying that the Holy Spirit's actions were somewhat hidden in the Old Testament but much clearer since the ascension of Jesus into Heaven and the descent of the Holy Spirit at the feast of Pentecost.
In contrast to the Neo-Arian belief that the Son is anomoios , or "unlike" the Father, and with the Semi-Arian assertion that the Son is homoiousios , or "like" the Father, Gregory and his fellow Cappadocians maintained the Nicaean doctrine of homoousia , or consubstantiality of the Son with the Father.
Some of Gregory's theological writings suggest that, like his friend Gregory of Nyssa , he may have supported some form of the doctrine of apocatastasis , the belief that God will bring all of creation into harmony with the Kingdom of Heaven. Hanson and Philip Schaff , to describe Gregory's theology as universalist. Apart from the several theological discourses, Gregory was also one of the most important early Christian men of letters, a very accomplished orator, perhaps one of the greatest of his time.
Gregory's great nephew Nichobulos served as his literary executor, preserving and editing many of his writings. A cousin, Eulalios, published several of Gregory's more noteworthy works in As Gregory's works circulated throughout the empire they influenced theological thought. His orations were cited as authoritative by the First Council of Ephesus in By he was designated Theologus , or Theologian by the Council of Chalcedon [4]: He is widely quoted by Eastern Orthodox theologians and highly regarded as a defender of the Christian faith.
His contributions to Trinitarian theology are also influential and often cited in the Western churches. Following his death, Saint Gregory was buried at Nazianzus. His relics, consisting of portions of his body and clothing, were transferred to Constantinople in , into the Church of the Holy Apostles. Part of the relics were taken from Constantinople by Crusaders during the Fourth Crusade , in , and ended up in Rome. The relics are now enshrined in the Patriarchal Cathedral of St.
George in the Fanar. During the six years of life which remained to him after his final retirement to his birthplace, Gregory composed the greater part of the copious poetical works which has passed down from generation. These include a valuable autobiographical poem of nearly 2, lines; about one hundred other shorter poems relating to his past career; and a large number of epitaphs, epigrams, and epistles to well-known people during that era. The poems that he wrote that dealt with his personal affairs refer to the continuous illness and severe sufferings physical and spiritual which assailed him during his last years.
In the tiny plot of ground at Arianzus , all that remained to him of his rich inheritance was by a fountain near which there was a shady walk. At this point, Gregory retired to spend his days as a hermit. It was at this point he decided to write theological discourses and poetry of both a religious and an autobiographical nature.
He died about 25 January , although the exact date of his death is unknown. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nyssa on 14 June. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For his father, see Gregory of Nazianzus the Elder. Mosaic of Christ Pantocrator , Hagia Sophia. Paschal cycle 12 Great Feasts Other feasts: Feast of Orthodoxy Intercession of the Theotokos. Retrieved 1 November The Riverside Dictionary of Biography. Gregory of Nazianzus or Nazianzen, St c. This fifth oration deals entirely with the Holy Spirit.
Through Augustine, the idea would develop in the West into "double-procession," resulting in the Filioque clause and the split between Eastern and Western Christianity. Boston and Chicago Universalist Publishing House, Everett Ferguson New York: Garland Publishing, , details Gregory of Nyssa 's adherence to the doctrine, while making no mention of Nazianzan. Oxford University Press, p. Orthodox Church in America. Retrieved 26 September Poetry and Faith," Patristic and Byzantine Review Essays in Honor of David Michael Stanley. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis , Education for Salvation," Patristic and Byzantine Review Catholic University of America Press, The semi-Arians taught that the Son is of like substance with the Father homoiousios , as against the outright Arians who taught that the Son was unlike the Father heterousian.
So the Son was held to be like the Father but not of the same essence as the Father. The Cappadocians worked to bring these semi-Arians back to the Orthodox cause. In their writings they made extensive use of the formula "three substances hypostases in one essence homoousia ", and thus explicitly acknowledged a distinction between the Father and the Son a distinction that Nicea had been accused of blurring but at the same time insisting on their essential unity.
After his death or according to some sources, during his life he was given the Greek epithet chrysostomos , meaning "golden mouthed", rendered in English as Chrysostom. Chrysostom is known within Christianity chiefly as a preacher and theologian, particularly in the Eastern Orthodox Church; he is the patron saint of orators in the Roman Catholic Church. Chrysostom is also noted for eight of his sermons that played a considerable part in the history of Christian antisemitism , diatribes against Judaizers composed while a presbyter in Antioch, which were extensively cited by the Nazis in their ideological campaign against the Jews.
Cyril of Alexandria c. Cyril wrote extensively and was a leading protagonist in the Christological controversies of the late 4th and early 5th centuries. He was a central figure in the First Council of Ephesus in , which led to the deposition of Nestorius as Archbishop of Constantinople.
- Church Fathers.
- leondumoulin.nl: Gregory of Nazianzus (The Early Church Fathers) (): Brian Daley: Books.
- Early Church Fathers |!
Cyril's reputation within the Christian world has resulted in his titles "Pillar of Faith" and "Seal of all the Fathers". In his early life, he was a civil servant and an aide to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius. However, he gave up this life in the political sphere to enter into the monastic life. After moving to Carthage , Maximus studied several Neo-Platonist writers and became a prominent author. When one of his friends began espousing the Christological position known as Monothelitism , Maximus was drawn into the controversy, in which he supported the Chalcedonian position that Jesus had both a human and a divine will.
Maximus is venerated in both Eastern Christianity and Western Christianity. His Christological positions eventually resulted in his torture and exile, soon after which he died. However, his theology was vindicated by the Third Council of Constantinople , and he was venerated as a saint soon after his death. His feast day is celebrated twice during the year: His title of Confessor means that he suffered for the faith, but not to the point of death, and thus is distinguished from a martyr. His Life of the Virgin is thought to be the earliest complete biography of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
John of Damascus c. Born and raised in Damascus , he died at his monastery, Mar Saba, near Jerusalem. A polymath whose fields of interest and contribution included law, theology, philosophy, and music, before being ordained, he served as a chief administrator to the Muslim caliph of Damascus, wrote works expounding the Christian faith, and composed hymns which are still in use in Eastern Christian monasteries. The Catholic Church regards him as a Doctor of the Church, often referred to as the Doctor of the Assumption because of his writings on the Assumption of Mary.
Those fathers who wrote in Latin are called the Latin Church Fathers. Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus c. Tertullian denounced Christian doctrines he considered heretical, but later in life adopted Montanism , regarded as heretical by the mainstream Church, which prevented his canonization. He wrote three books in Greek and was the first great writer of Latin Christianity, thus sometimes known as the "Father of the Latin Church". In his Apologeticus , he was the first Latin author who qualified Christianity as the vera religio , and systematically relegated the classical Roman Empire religion and other accepted cults to the position of mere "superstitions".
Later in life, Tertullian joined the Montanists, a heretical sect that appealed to his rigorism. He wrote that human beings are like little fish. He was born in North Africa , probably at the beginning of the 3rd century, perhaps at Carthage, where he received an excellent classical pagan education. After converting to Christianity, he became a bishop and eventually died a martyr at Carthage. He emphasized the necessity of the unity of Christians with their bishops, and also the authority of the Roman See, which he claimed was the source of "priestly unity"'.
Hilary of Poitiers c. He was sometimes referred to as the "Hammer of the Arians" Latin: His optional memorial in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints is 13 January. In the past, when this date was occupied by the Octave Day of the Epiphany, his feast day was moved to 14 January. Ambrose [26] was an archbishop of Milan who became one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the 4th century. He is counted as one of the four original doctors of the Church.
He offered a new perspective on the theory of atonement. Pope Damasus I — was active in defending the Catholic Church against the threat of schisms. In two Roman synods and he condemned the heresies of Apollinarianism and Macedonianism, and sent legates papal representatives to the First Council of Constantinople that was convoked in to address these heresies. He also wrote in defense of the Roman See's authority, and inaugurated use of Latin in the Mass , instead of the Koine Greek that was still being used throughout the Church in the west in the liturgy.
He also was a Christian apologist. Jerome's edition of the Bible, the Vulgate , is still an important text of Catholicism. Augustine — , Bishop of Hippo, was a philosopher and theologian. Augustine, a Latin Father and Doctor of the Church, is one of the most important figures in the development of Western Christianity. In his early life, Augustine read widely in Greco-Roman rhetoric and philosophy, including the works of Platonists such as Plotinus.
When Rome fell and the faith of many Christians was shaken, Augustine wrote The City of God , in which he defended Christianity from pagan critics and developed the concept of the Church as a spiritual City of God , distinct from the material City of Man. Augustine was born in present-day Algeria to a Christian mother, Monica of Hippo. He was educated in North Africa and resisted his mother's pleas to become Christian.
He took a concubine and became a Manichean. He later converted to Christianity, became a bishop, and opposed heresies, such as Pelagianism. His many works—including The Confessions , which is often called the first Western autobiography —have been read continuously since his lifetime.
Saint Gregory of Nazianzus
Augustine is also the patron saint of many institutions and a number have been named after him. Gregory I the Great c. He was the first of the popes from a monastic background. Of all popes, Gregory I had the most influence on the early medieval church. Isidore of Seville c. Indeed, all the later medieval history-writing of Hispania the Iberian Peninsula, comprising modern Spain and Portugal was based on his histories.
At a time of disintegration of classical culture and aristocratic violence and illiteracy, he was involved in the conversion of the royal Visigothic Arians to Catholicism, both assisting his brother Leander of Seville and continuing after his brother's death. He was influential in the inner circle of Sisebut, Visigothic king of Hispania. Like Leander, he played a prominent role in the Councils of Toledo and Seville. The Visigothic legislation which resulted from these councils is regarded by modern historians as exercising an important influence on the beginnings of representative government.
Church Fathers - Wikipedia
A few Church Fathers wrote in Syriac ; many of their works were also widely translated into Latin and Greek. He was born in Persia around , but all his known works, the Demonstrations , come from later on in his life. He was an ascetic and celibate , and was almost definitely a son of the covenant an early Syriac form of communal monasticism.
He may have been a bishop , and later Syriac tradition places him at the head of Mar Matti monastery near Mosul , in what is now northern Iraq. He was a near contemporary to the slightly younger Ephrem the Syrian , but the latter lived within the sphere of the Roman Empire. Called the Persian Sage Syriac: Ephrem the Syrian ca. He has been declared a Doctor of the Church in Roman Catholicism. He is especially beloved in the Syriac Orthodox Church. Ephrem wrote a wide variety of hymns, poems , and sermons in verse, as well as prose biblical exegesis.
These were works of practical theology for the edification of the church in troubled times. So popular were his works, that, for centuries after his death, Christian authors wrote hundreds of pseudepigraphal works in his name. He has been called the most significant of all of the fathers of the Syriac-speaking church tradition. Isaac of Antioch — , one of the stars of Syriac literature , is the reputed author of a large number of metrical homilies The fullest list, by Gustav Bickell , contains which are extant in MSS , many of which are distinguished by an originality and acumen rare among Syriac writers.
Isaac of Nineveh was a 7th-century Assyrian bishop and theologian best remembered for his written work. He is also regarded as a saint in the Church of the East , the Catholic Church , the Eastern Orthodox Church and among the Oriental Orthodox Churches, making him the last saint chronologically to be recognised by every apostolic Church.
His feast day falls on January Isaac is remembered for his spiritual homilies on the inner life, which have a human breadth and theological depth that transcends the Nestorian Christianity of the Church to which he belonged. They survive in Syriac manuscripts and in Greek and Arabic translations. The Desert Fathers were early monastics living in the Egyptian desert; although they did not write as much, their influence was also great.
Among them are Anthony the Great and Pachomius. Many of their, usually short, sayings are collected in the Apophthegmata Patrum "Sayings of the Desert Fathers". In the Roman Catholic Church, John of Damascus , who lived in the 8th century, is generally considered to be a Doctor of the Church and at the same time the first seed of the next period of church writers, scholasticism. The Eastern Orthodox Church does not consider the age of Church Fathers to be over and includes later influential writers up to the present day. The Orthodox view is that men do not have to agree on every detail, much less be infallible, to be considered Church Fathers.