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- Our Father among the Saints Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of
Constantinople (389)
- This light of the Church is one of only three holy Fathers whom
the Church has honored with the name "the Theologian" (the others are St John the
Evangelist and Theologian, and St Symeon the New Theologian).
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He was born in 329 in Arianzus in Cappadocia to a pious and holy family: both
his father Gregory, mother Nonna, brother Caesarius and sister Gorgonia are all
counted among the Saints of the Church. His father later became Bishop of Nazianzus.
He studied in Palestine, then in Alexandria, then in Athens. On the way to Athens, his
ship was almost sunk in a violent storm; Gregory, who had not yet been baptized,
prayed to the Lord to preserve him, and promised that henceforth he would dedicate
his entire life to God. Immediately the storm ceased.
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In Athens, Gregory's fellow students included St Basil the Great and the future
Emperor Julian the Apostate. The friendship between Gregory and Basil blossomed into
a true spiritual friendship; they were loving brothers in Christ for the rest of their lives.
After completing their studies, Sts Gregory and Basil lived together as monks in
hermitage at Pontus. Much against St Gregory's will, his father ordained him a priest,
and St Basil consecrated him Bishop of Sasima (in the Archdiocese of Caesarea, over
which St Basil was Archbishop).
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In 381 the Second Ecumenical Council condemned Macedonius, Archbishop of
Constantinople, and appointed St Gregory in his place. When he arrived in the City, he
found that the Arians controlled all the churches, and he was forced to "rule" from a
small house chapel. From there he preached his five great sermons on the Trinity, the
Triadika; these were so powerfully influential that when he left Constantinople two
years later, every church in the City had been restored to the Orthodox.
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St Gregory was always a theologian and a contemplative, not an administrator,
and the duties of Archbishop were agonizing to him. In 382 he received permission
from a council of his fellow-bishops and the Emperor to retire from the see of
Constantinople. He returned to Nazianzus (for which reason he is sometimes called St
Gregory of Nazianzus). There he reposed in peace in 391 at the age of sixty-two.
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His writings show a theological depth and a sublimity of expression perhaps
unsurpassed in the Church. His teaching on the Holy Trinity is a great bastion of
Orthodox Faith; in almost every one of his published homilies he preaches the Trinity
undivided and of one essence.
source:http://www.abbamoses.com
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