St. Gregory of Nyssa, "Father of the Fathers"

Bishop: ca. 330-395 A.D.

Birth, family background, and early life

St. Gregory was the son of St. Basil the Elder and St. Emmilia. He was born at Caesarea, Cappadocia, and was cared for by his brother St. Basil (the Great), and his sister St. Macrina the Younger. Being well educated, St. Gregory became a rhetorician and entered into marriage with Theosebeia. He became a professor of rhetoric but became depressed because of his students. His friend St. Gregory Nazianzen, led him to enter religious life. Eventually, he was ordained a priest. In the first years of his priesthood, he lived in seclusion at Iris in Pontus. Then in 372 A.D., his brother St. Basil, who was bishop of Caesarea, was instrumental in Gregory's being named bishop of Nyssa, lower Armenia.

A staunch defender of the Church against heresies

When St. Gregory took his episcopal seat in the diocese of Nyssa, he found his see overrun by Arianism. Aside from this problem, he was then falsely accused of stealing Church property and was imprisoned. Although St. Gregory was able to escape from prison, he was deposed by a synod of bishops from Galatia and Pontus in 376 A.D., and was exiled until 378 A.D., when the Emperor Gratian restored him to the see of Nyssa. St. Gregory then became active in the council of Antioch (379 A.D.) and in the General Council of Constantinople (381 A.D.), which battled heresies and reaffirmed the orthodox teaching of the Church (especially as regards the decrees of the Council of Nicaea against Arianism). Together with other Fathers of the Church, St. Gregory of Nyssa was a pillar of orthodoxy and a great opponent of Arianism.

His writings and influence

Together with St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen, the three Cappadocian Fathers had an immense infuence in Eastern Christianity. Of these three Fathers, it was St. Gregory of Nyssa who was the most mystical in his writings. He wrote a commentary on the Song of Songs in the form of fifteen homilies dedicated to a wealthy Christian named Olympias. His other great mystical work, "The Life of Moses", is a rearrangement of the story of Moses, that presents the Old Testament patriarch as the model of mystical ascent to God. In this written work, St. Gregory was able to expound well on his original mystical teaching on the "epektasis" - the constant pursuit of God that is paradoxically at the same time, the enjoyment of His presence (confer Philippians 3:13).

St. Gregory of Nyssa also wrote his Catechetical Discourse, treatises against Eunomius and Appolinaris, a book on virginity, and commentaries on Scripture. The second General Council of Nicaea in 680-681 A.D., called him "Father of the Fathers."

Sources of this blog post:

• Dictionary of Saints, by John J. Delaney
• Pocket Catholic Dictionary, by John A. Hardon, SJ
• The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism, by editor Bernard McGinn