Deepertruth: Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint Gregory Nazianzen

Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint Gregory Nazianzen 1/14/2024

In 358, Gregory returned to Cappadocia. Gregory's father baptized him when he was thirty-three. His father, as bishop of Nazianzus, had Arian tendencies and even signed a statement of faith that was, at best, ambiguous in meaning concerning the Trinity.

After his baptism at 30, Gregory gladly accepted his friend Basil’s invitation to join him in a newly founded monastery. The solitude was broken when Gregory’s father, a bishop, needed help in his diocese and estate. It seems that Gregory was ordained a priest practically by force, and only reluctantly accepted the responsibility. He skillfully avoided a schism that threatened when his own father made compromises with Arianism. At 41, Gregory was chosen suffragan bishop of Caesarea and at once came into conflict with Valens, the emperor, who supported the Arians.

He is widely considered the most accomplished rhetorical stylist of the patristic age. As a classically trained orator and philosopher, he infused Hellenism into the early church, establishing the paradigm of Byzantine theologians and church officials.

Gregory is known best for his contributions to the liturgy. He reformed the Mass and the daily prayer of the Church and wrote prayers we still use today as well as commentaries on Scripture that shaped theology through the Middle Ages.

Though life is a mysterious trial, Gregory emphasized the need to act, age quod agis (“do what you can”). He stressed how this world and the next are joined in various forms of mediation, be they humanity's offerings to God or God's visitations of grace or wrath. For Gregory the mediation of the sacraments was central.