GREGORY
11
GREGORY
Caesarea in Cappadocia Gregory proceeded to Caesarea
in Palestine, where he stmlied rhetoric under Thes-
pesius; and thence to Alexandria, of which Athanasius
was then bishop, though at the time in exile. Setting
out by sea from Alexandria to Athens, Gregory was
all but lost in a great storm, and some of his biog-
raphers infer — though the fact is not certain — that
when in danger of ileath he and his companions re-
ceived the rite of baptism. He had certainly not been
baptized in infancy, though dedicated to God by his
pious mother; but there is some puthority for believing
that he received the sacrament, not on his voyage to
Athens, but on his return to Nazianzus some years
later. At Athens Gregory and Basil, who had parted
at Caesarea, met again, renewed their youthful friend-
ship, and studied rhetoric to-
gether under the f a m o u s
teachers Himerius and Prou'-
resius. Among their fellow-
students was Julian, after-
wards known as the Apostate,
whose real character Gregory
asserts that he had even then
discerned and thoroughly dis-
trusted. The saint's studies
at Athens (which Basil left be-
fore his friend) extended over
some ten years; and when he
departed in 350 for his native
province, visiting Constanti-
nople on his way home, he was
about thirty years of age.
Arrived at Nazianzus, where his parents were now advanced in age, Gregory, who had by this time firmly resolved to devote his life and talents to God, anxiously considered the plan of his future career. To a yoiHig man of his high at- tainments a distinguished sec- ular career was open, either that of a lawyer or of a pro- fessor of rhetoric; but his yearnings were for the monas- tic or ascetic life, though this did not seem compatible either with the Scriptural studies in which he was deeply inter- ested, or with his filial duties at home. As was natural, he consulted his beloved friend Basil in his perplexity as to his future ; and he has left us in his own writings an ex- tremely interesting narrative of their intercourse at this time , and of their common resolve (based on somewhatdiffer- ent motives, according to the decided differences in their characters') to quit the world for the service of God alone . Basil retired to Pontus to lead the life of a hermit ; but finding that Gregory could not join him there, came and settled first at Tiberina (near Gregory's own home), then at Neocaesarea, in Pontus, where he lived in holy seclusion for some years, and gathered roimd hira a brotherhood of cenobites, among whom his friend Gregory was for a time included. After a sojourn here for two or three years, during which Gregory edited, with Basil, some of the exegetical works of Origen, and also helped his friend in the compilation of his famous rules, Gregory returned to Nazianzus, leaving with regret the peaceful hermitage where he and Basil (as he recalled in their subsequent correspondence) had spent such a pleasant time in the labour both of hands and of heads. On his return home Gregory was instrumental in bringing back to orthodoxy his fatherwho, perhaps partly m ignorance.
St. (Ireciury
Paiiitiug by
had subscribed the heretical creed of Rimini ; and the
aged bishop, desiring his son's presence and support,
overruled his scrupulous shrinking from the priesthood,
and forced hira to accept ordination (probably at
Christmas, 361). Wounded and grieved at the
pressure put upon him, Gregory tied back to his soli-
tude, and to the company of Basil ; but after some
weeks' reflection returned to Nazianzus, where he
preached his first sermon on Easter Sunday, and after-
wards wrote the remarkable apologetic oration, which
is really a treatise on the priestly office, the foundation
of Chrysostom's "De Sacerdotio", of Gregory the
Great's "Cura Pastoralis", and of countless subse-
quent writings on the same subject.
During the next few years Gregory's life at Nazi- anzus was saddened by the deaths of his brother C;esarius and his sister Gorgonia, at whose funerals he preached two of his most eloquent ora- lions, which are still extant. A I >out this time Basil was made I lishop of Cspsarea and Metro- |Hilitan of Cappadocia, and Mion afterwards the Emperor ^'alens, who was jealous of Basil's influence, divided Cap- [ladocia into two provinces. Basil continued to claim eccle- siastical jurisdiction, as before, over the whole province, but t h is was disputed byAnthimus, Bisiiop of Tyana, the chief cily of New Cappadocia. To strengthen his position Basil founded a new see at Sasima, resolved to have Gregory as its first bishop, and accord- ingly had him consecrated, though greatly against his will, (ircgory, however, was set against Sasima from the first ; he thought himself utterly iHisuited to the place, and the ])lace to him ; and it was not Inhg before he abandoned his diocese and returned to Nazi- anzus as coadjutor to his fa- ther. This episode in Gregory's life was imhappily the cause of an estrangement between Basil and himself which was neveraltogether removed ; and there is no extant record of any correspondence between them subsequent to Gregory's leaving Sasima. Meanwhile he occupied himself sedulously with his duties as coadj utor to his aged father, who died early in 37-i, his wife Nonna soon following him to the grave. Gregory, who was now left without family ties, devoted to the poor the large fortune which he had inherited, keeping for him.self only a small piece of land at Arianzus. He continued to administer the diocese for about two years, refusing, however, to become the bishop, and continually urging the appointment of a successor to his father. At the end of 375 he withdrew to a monastery at Seleuci, living there in solitude for some three years, and pre- paring (though he knew it not) for what was to be the crowning work of his life. About the end of this period Basil died. Gregory's own state of health pre- vented his being present either at the death-bed or funeral ; but he wrote a letter of condolence to Basil's brother, Gregory of Nyssa, and composed twelve beautiful memorial poems or epitaphs to his departed friend.
Three weeks after Basil's death, Theodosius was
OF Nazianzus
Domenichino
