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Gregory of Nyssa

Icon of St. Gregory of Nyssa(14th century fresco, Chora Church, Istanbul)

Cappadocian Father

Born c. 330Neocaesarea, Cappadocia

Died c. 395Nyssa, Cappadocia

Honored in AnglicanismEastern OrthodoxyLutheranismOriental OrthodoxyRoman Catholicism

Canonized Pre­congregation

Feast 10 January (Eastern Christianity)10 January (Roman Catholicism)14 June, with Macrina (LutheranChurch)19 July, with Macrina (AnglicanCommunion)

Attributes Vested as a bishop.

Gregory of NyssaFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gregory of Nyssa, also known as Gregory Nyssen(Greek: Γρηγόριος Νύσσης; c. 335 – c. 395), was bishopof Nyssa from 372 to 376 and from 378 until his death.He is venerated as a saint in Roman Catholicism, EasternOrthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, Lutheranism, andAnglicanism. Gregory, his brother Basil of Caesarea, andGregory of Nazianzus are collectively known as theCappadocian Fathers.

Gregory lacked the administrative ability of his brotherBasil or the contemporary influence of Gregory ofNazianzus, but he was an erudite theologian who madesignificant contributions to the doctrine of the Trinity andthe Nicene creed. Gregory's philosophical writings wereinfluenced by Origen. Since the mid­twentieth century,there has been a significant increase in interest inGregory's works from the academic community,particularly involving universal salvation, which hasresulted in challenges to many traditional interpretationsof his theology.

Contents

1 Background2 Biography

2.1 Early life and education2.2 Episcopate

3 Theology3.1 Conception of the Trinity3.2 Infinitude of God3.3 Universalism3.4 Anthropology3.5 Neoplatonism

4 Feast Day4.1 Eastern Christianity4.2 Roman Catholicism4.3 Lutheran Church4.4 Anglican Communion

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5 Legacy6 Commentary on Gregory7 Bibliography8 Further reading

8.1 Primary sources8.2 Secondary sources

9 References10 External links

Background

In the book of Acts, it depicts that at on the Day of Pentecost, that there were visiting Jews who were"residents of...Cappadocia"[1] in attendance. In the First Epistle of Peter, written after AD 65, the authorgreets Christians who are "exiles scattered throughout…Cappodicia." There is no further reference toCappadocia in the rest of the New Testament.

Christianity arose in Cappadocia relatively late with no evidence of a Christian community before the latesecond century AD.[2] Alexander of Jerusalem was the first bishop of the province in the early to mid thirdcentury, a period in which Christians suffered persecution from the local Roman authorities.[2][3] Thecommunity remained very small throughout the third century: when Gregory Thaumaturgus acceded to thebishopric in c. 250, according to his namesake, the Nyssen, there were only seventeen members of theChurch in Caesarea.[4]

Cappadocian bishops were among those at the Council of Nicaea. Because of the broad distribution of thepopulation, rural bishops [χωρεπισκοποι] were appointed to support the Bishop of Caesarea. During the latefourth century there were around fifty of them. In Gregory's lifetime, the Christians of Cappadocia weredevout, with the cults of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste and Saint George being particularly significant andrepresented by a considerable monastic presence. There were some adherents of heretical branches ofChristianity, most notably Arians, Encratites and Messalians.[5]

Biography

Early life and education

Gregory was born around 335, probably in or near the city of Neocaesarea, Pontus.[6] His family wasaristocratic and Christian ­ according to Gregory of Nazianzus, his mother was Emmelia of Caesarea, andhis father, a rhetorician, has been identified either as Basil the Elder or as a Gregory.[6][7] Among his ninesiblings were St. Macrina the Younger, St. Naucratius, St. Peter of Sebaste and St. Basil of Caesarea. Theprecise number of children in the family was historically contentious: the commentary on 30 May in theActa Sanctorum, for example, initially states that they were nine, before describing Peter as the tenth child.It has been established that this confusion occurred due to the death of one son in infancy, leading toambiguities in Gregory's own writings.[8] Gregory's parents had suffered persecution for their faith: he

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writes that they "had their goods confiscated for confessing Christ."[9] Gregory's maternal grandmother,Macrina the Elder is also revered as a saint[10] and his maternal grandfather was a martyr as Gregory put it"killed by Imperial wrath"[9] under the persecution of the Roman Emperor Maximinus II.[11] Between the320's to the early 340's the family rebuilt its fortunes, with Gregory's father working in the city ofNeocaeaseria as an advocate and rhetorician.[12]

Gregory's temperament is said to be quiet and meek, in contrast to his brother Basil who was known to bemuch more outspoken.[13]

Gregory was first educated at home, by his mother Emmelia and sister Macrina. Little is known of whatfurther education he received. Apocryphal hagiographies depict him studying at Athens, but this isspeculation probably based on the life of his brother Basil.[14] It seems more likely that he continued hisstudies in Caesarea, where he read classical literature, philosophy and perhaps medicine.[15] Gregoryhimself claimed that his only teachers were Basil, "Paul, John and the rest of the Apostles and prophets".[16]

While his brothers Basil and Naucratius lived as hermits from c. 355, Gregory initially pursued a non­ecclesiastical career as a rhetorician. He did however, act as a lector.[15] He is known to have married awoman named Theosebia during this period, who is sometimes identified with Theosebia the Deaconess,venerated as a saint by Orthodox Christianity. This is controversial, however, and other commentatorssuggest that Theosebia the Deaconess was one of Gregory's sisters.[17][18]

Episcopate

In 371, the Emperor Valens split Cappadocia into two new provinces, Cappadocia Prima and CappadociaSecunda.[19] This resulted in complex changes in ecclesiastical boundaries, during which several newbishoprics were created. Gregory was elected bishop of the new see of Nyssa in 372, presumably with thesupport of his brother Basil, who was metropolitan of Caesarea.[20] Gregory's early policies as bishop oftenwent against those of Basil : for instance, while his brother condemned the Sabellianist followers ofMarcellus of Ancyra as heretics, Gregory may have tried to reconcile them with the church.[20]

Gregory faced opposition to his reign in Nyssa, and, in 373 Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium had to visitthe city to quell discontent. In 375 Desmothenes of Pontus convened a synod at Ancyra to try Gregory oncharges of embezzlement of church funds and irregular ordination of bishops. He was arrested by imperialtroops in the winter of the same year, but escaped to an unknown location. The synod of Nyssa, which wasconvened in the spring of 376, deposed him.[21] However, Gregory regained his see in 378, perhaps due toan amnesty promulgated by the new emperor Gratian. In the same year Basil died, and despite the relativeunimportance of Nyssa, Gregory took over many of his brother's former responsibilities in Pontus.[22]

He was present at the Synod of Antioch in April 379, where he unsuccessfully attempted to reconcile thefollowers of Meletius of Antioch with those of Paulinus.[23] After visiting the village of Annisa to see hisdying sister Macrina, he returned to Nyssa in August. In 380 he travelled to Sebaste, in the province ofArmenia Prima, to support a pro­Nicene candidate for the election to the bishopric. To his surprise, hehimself was elected to the seat, perhaps due to the population's association of him with his brother.[24]However, Gregory deeply disliked the relatively unhellenized society of Armenia, and he was confronted

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The First Council of Constantinople,as depicted in a fresco in theStavropoleos Monastery, Bucharest,Romania.

by an investigation into his orthodoxy by local opponents of the Nicene theology.[24] After a stay of severalmonths, a substitute was found ­ possibly Gregory's brother Peter, who was bishop of Sebaste from 381 ­and Gregory returned home to Nyssa to write books I and II of Against Eunomius.[24]

Gregory participated in the First Council of Constantinople (381), and perhaps gave there his famoussermon In suam ordinationem. He was chosen to eulogise at the funeral of Melitus, which occurred duringthe council. The council sent Gregory on a mission to Arabia, perhaps to ameliorate the situation in Bostra,

where two men, Agapius and Badagius, claimed to be bishop. If thisis the case, Gregory was unsuccessful, as the see was still contestedin 394.[24][25] He then travelled to Jerusalem, where Cyril ofJerusalem faced opposition from local clergy due to the fact that hehad been ordained by Acacius of Caesarea, an Arian heretic.Gregory's attempted mediation of the dispute was unsuccessful, andhe himself was accused of holding unorthodox views on the natureof Christ.[25] His later reign in Nyssa was marked by conflict withhis Metropolitan, Helladius. Gregory was present at a 394 synodconvened at Constantinople to discuss the continued problems inBostra. The year of his death is unknown.[26]

Theology

The traditional view of Gregory is that he was an orthodox Trinitarian theologian, who was influenced bythe neoplatonism of Plotinus and believed in universal salvation following Origen.[27] However, as a highlyoriginal and sophisticated thinker, Gregory is difficult to classify, and many aspects of his theology arecontentious among both conservative Orthodox theologians and Western academic scholarship.[28] This isoften due to the lack of systematic structure and the presence of terminological inconsistencies in Gregory'swork.[29]

Conception of the Trinity

Gregory, following Basil, defined the Trinity as "one essence [οὐσία] in three persons [ὑποστάσεις]", theformula adopted by the Council of Constantinople in 381.[30] Like the other Cappadocian Fathers, he was ahomoousian, and Against Eunomius affirms the truth of the consubstantiality of the trinity over Eunomius'Platonic belief that the Father's substance is unengendered, whereas the Son's is engendered.[31] Accordingto Gregory, the differences between the three persons of the Trinity reside in their relationships with eachother, and the triune nature of God is revealed through divine action (despite the unity of God in Hisaction).[32][33] The Son is therefore defined as begotten of the Father, the Holy Spirit as proceeding from theFather and the Son, and the Father by his role as progenitor. However, this doctrine would seem tosubordinate the Son to the Father, and the Holy Spirit to the Son. Robert Jenson suggests that Gregoryimplies that each member of the Godhead has an individual priority: the Son has epistemological priority,the Father has ontic priority and the Spirit has metaphysical priority.[34] Other commentators disagree:Morwenna Ludlow, for instance, argues that epistemic priority resides primarily in the Spirit in Gregory'stheology.[35]

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11th century mosaic of Gregory ofNyssa. Saint Sophia Cathedral inKiev, Ukraine.

Modern proponents of social Trinitarianism often claim to have been influenced by the Cappadocians'dynamic picture of the Trinity.[36] However, it would be fundamentally incorrect to identify Gregory as asocial Trinitarian, as his theology emphasises the unity of God's will, and he clearly believes that theidentities of the Trinity are the three persons, not the relations between them.[29][35]

Infinitude of God

Gregory was one of the first theologians to argue, in opposition toOrigen, that God is infinite. His main argument for the infinity ofGod, which can be found in Against Eunomius, is that God'sgoodness is limitless, and as God's goodness is essential, God is alsolimitless.[37]

An important consequence of Gregory's belief in the infinity of Godis his belief that God, as limitless, is essentially incomprehensible tothe limited minds of created beings. In Life of Moses, Gregorywrites: "...every concept that comes from some comprehensibleimage, by an approximate understanding and by guessing at theDivine nature, constitutes a idol of God and does not proclaimGod."[38] Gregory's theology was thus apophatic: he proposed thatGod should be defined in terms of what we know He is not ratherthan what we might speculate Him to be.[39]

Accordingly, the Nyssen taught that due to God's infinitude, acreated being can never reach an understanding of God, and thus forman in both life and the afterlife there is a constant progression[ἐπέκτασις] towards the unreachable knowledge of God, as theindividual continually transcends all which has been reachedbefore.[40] In the Life of Moses, Gregory speaks of three stages of this spiritual growth: initial darkness ofignorance, then spiritual illumination, and finally a darkness of the mind in mystic contemplation of theGod who cannot be comprehended.[41]

Universalism

Gregory seems to have believed in the universal salvation of all human beings. Gregory argues that whenPaul says that God will be "all in all" (1 Cor. 15:28), this means that though some may need long time ofpurification, eventually "no being will remain outside the number of the saved"[42] and that "no beingcreated by God will fall outside the Kingdom of God".[43] That this is what Gregory believed and taught isaffirmed by most scholars.[44][45][46][47][48] A minority of scholars have argued that Gregory only affirmedthe universal resurrection.[49]

In the Life of Moses, Gregory writes that just as the darkness left the Egyptians after three days, perhapsredemption [ἀποκατάστασις] will be extended to those suffering in hell [γέεννα].[50] This salvation may notonly extend to humans; following Origen, there are passages where he seems to suggest (albeit through thevoice of Macrina) that even the demons will have a place in Christ's "world of goodness".[51] Gregory's

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interpretations of 1 Corinthians 15:28 (http://tools.wmflabs.org/bibleversefinder/?book=1%20Corinthians&verse=15:28&src=KJV) ("And when all things shall be subdued unto him ...") andPhilippians 2:10 (http://tools.wmflabs.org/bibleversefinder/?book=Philippians&verse=2:10&src=KJV)("That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and thingsunder the earth") support this understanding of his theology.[51]

However, in the Great Catechism, Gregory suggests that while every human will be resurrected, salvationwill only be accorded to the baptised, although he also states that others driven by their passions can besaved after being purified by fire.[52] While he believes that there will be no more evil in the hereafter, it isarguable that this does not preclude a belief that God might justly damn sinners for eternity.[53] Thus, themain difference between Gregory's conception of ἀποκατάστασις and that of Origen would be that Gregorybelieves that mankind will be collectively returned to sinlessness, whereas Origen believes that personalsalvation will be universal.[53] This interpretation of Gregory has been criticized recently, however.[54]

Attempting to reconcile these disparate positions, Orthodox theologian Mario Baghos notes that "whentaken at face value the saint seems to be contradicting himself in these passages; on the one hand heasserted the salvation of all and the complete eradication of evil, and, on the other, that the fire needed topurge evil is ‘sleepless’, i.e. everlasting. The only solution to this inconsistency is to view any allusion touniversal salvation in St Gregory as an expression of God’s intention for humanity, which is in fact attestedto when his holy sister states that God has “one goal […] some straightway even in this life purified fromevil, others healed hereafter through fire for the appropriate length of time.” That we can choose either toaccept or ignore this purification is confirmed by the saint’s many exhortations that we freely undertake thevirtuous path." [55]

Anthropology

Gregory's anthropology is founded on the ontological distinction between the created and uncreated. Man isa material creation, and thus limited, but infinite in that his immortal soul has an indefinite capacity to growcloser to the divine.[56] Gregory believed that the soul is created simultaneous to the creation of the body (inopposition to Origen, who believed in preexistence), and that embryos were thus persons. To Gregory, thehuman being is exceptional, being created in the image of God.[57] Humanity is theomorphic both in havingself­awareness and free will, the latter which gives each individual existential power, because to Gregory,in disregarding God one negates one's own existence.[58] In the Song of Songs, Gregory metaphoricallydescribes human lives as paintings created by apprentices to a master: the apprentices (the human wills)imitate their master's work (the life of Christ) with beautiful colors (virtues), and thus man strives to be areflection of Christ.[59] Gregory, in stark contrast to most thinkers of his age, saw great beauty in the Fall:from Adam's sin from two perfect humans would eventually arise myriad.[59]

Gregory was also one of the first Christian voices to say that slavery as an institution was inherentlysinful.[60] He believed that slavery violated mankind's inherent worth, and the nature of humanity to be free.In Homilies on Ecclesiastes, he wrote: "'I got me slave­girls and slaves.' For what price, tell me? What didyou find in existence worth as much as this human nature? What price did you put on rationality? Howmany obols did you reckon the equivalent of the likeness of God? How many staters did you get for sellingthat being shaped by God? God said, Let us make man in our own image and likeness. If he is in thelikeness of God, and rules the whole earth, and has been granted authority over everything on earth fromGod, who is his buyer, tell me? Who is his seller? To God alone belongs this power; or, rather, not even to

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God himself. For his gracious gifts, it says, are irrevocable. God would not therefore reduce the human raceto slavery, since he himself, when we had been enslaved to sin, spontaneously recalled us to freedom. But ifGod does not enslave what is free, who is he that sets his own power above God's?"[61]

Neoplatonism

There are many similarities between Gregory's theology and neoplatonist philosophy, especially that ofPlotinus.[62] Specifically, they share the idea that the reality of God is completely inaccessible to humanbeings and that man can only come to see God through a spiritual journey in which knowledge [γνῶσις] isrejected in favour of meditation.[63] Gregory does not refer to any neoplatonist philosophers in his work,and there is only one disputed passage which may directly quote Plotinus.[64] Considering this, it seemspossible that Gregory was familiar with Plotinus and perhaps other figures in neoplatonism. However, somesignificant differences between neoplatonism and Gregory's thought exist, such as Gregory's statement thatbeauty and goodness are equivalent, which contrasts with Plotinus' view that they are two differentqualities.[65]

Eastern Orthodox theologians are generally critical of the theory that Gregory was influenced byneoplatonism. For example, Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos argues in Life After Death that Gregoryopposed all philosophical (as opposed to theological) endeavour as tainted with worldliness.[66] This view issupported by Against Euthonius, where Gregory denounces Euthonius for placing the results of hissystematic Aristotelean philosophy above the traditional teachings of the Church.[31]

Feast Day

Eastern Christianity

10 January

Roman Catholicism

10 JanuaryThe Roman Martyrology commemorates the demise of St. Gregory Nyssa on 9 March.In modern calendars which include the feast of St. Gregory such as the Benedictines, his feast day isobserved on 10 January. 55e­

Lutheran Church

14 June, with Macrina, Gregory of Nazianzus and Basil the Great.

Anglican Communion

19 July, with Macrina

Legacy

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De virginitate

Gregory is revered as a saint. However, unlike the otherCappadocian fathers, he is not a Doctor of the Church. He isvenerated chiefly in the East. His relics were held by the Vaticanuntil 2000, when they were translated to the Greek Orthodox churchof St. Gregory of Nyssa, San Diego, California.[67]

Gregory's work received little scholarly attention in the West untilthe mid­twentieth century, and he was historically treated as a minorfigure in comparison to Basil the Great or Gregory of Nazianzus.[68]As late as 1942, Hans Urs von Balthasar wrote that his work wasvirtually unknown.[69] In part due to the scholarship of Balthasarand Jean Daniélou, by the 1950s Gregory became the subject ofmuch serious theological research, with a critical edition of his workpublished (Gregorii Nysseni Opera), and the founding of theInternational Colloquium on Gregory of Nyssa.[68] This attentionhas continued to the present day. Modern studies have mainlyfocused on Gregory's eschatology rather than his more dogmaticwritings, and he has gained a reputation as an unconventionalthinker whose thought arguably prefigures postmodernism.[70] Major figures in contemporary researchinclude Sarah Coakley, John Zizioulas and Robert Jenson.[71][72]

Commentary on Gregory

In 787 AD, the Seventh Ecumenical Council of the Church, (also known as the Second Council of Nicea)honored Gregory of Nyssa:

"Let us then, consider who were the venerable doctors and indomitable champions of theChurch...[including] Gregory Primate of Nyssa, who all have called the father of fathers."[73]

Henry Fairfield Osborn wrote in his work on the history of evolutionary thought, From the Greeks toDarwin (1894):

Among the Christian Fathers the movement towards a partly naturalistic interpretation of theorder of Creation was made by Gregory of Nyssa in the fourth century, and was completed byAugustine in the fourth and fifth centuries. ...[Gregory] taught that Creation was potential. Godimparted to matter its fundamental properties and laws. The objects and completed forms of theUniverse developed gradually out of chaotic material. [74]

Anthony Meredith writes of Gregory's mystical and apophatic writings in his book Gregory of Nyssa (TheEarly Church Fathers) (1999):

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"Gregory has often been credited with the discovery of mystical theology, or rather with theperception that darkness is an appropriate symbol under which God can be discussed. There ismuch truth in this....Gregory seems to have been the first Christian writer to have made thisimportant point..."[75]

J. Kameron Carter writes about Gregory's stance on slavery, in the book Race a Theological Account(2008):

"What interests me is the defining features of Gregory's vision of the just society: hisunequivocal stance against 'the peculiar institution of slavery' and his call for the manumissionof all slaves. I am interested in reading Gregory as a fourth century abolitionistintellectual....His outlook surpassed not only St. Paul's more moderate (but to be fair to Paul, inhis moment, revolutionary) stance on the subject but also those of all ancient intellectuals ­­Pagan, Jewish and Christian ­ from Aristotle to Cicero and from Augustine in the ChristianWest to his contemporary, the golden mouthed preacher himself, John Crysotom in the East.Indeed, the world would have to wait another fifteen centuries ­­ until the nineteenth century,late into the modern abolitionist movement ­­ before such an unequivocal stance againstslavery would appear again."[76]

Bibliography

Gregory of Nyssa, Life of Macrina, London, 2012. limovia.net ISBN 978­1­78336­017­8John J. Cleary, ed. (1997). The perennial tradition of Neoplatonism. Leuven University Press.ISBN 978­90­6186­847­7.Sarah Coakley et al. (2003). Re­thinking Gregory of Nyssa. Willey­Blackwell. ISBN 978­1­4051­0637­5.Jean Daniélou (1956). "Le mariage de Grégoire de Nysse et la chronologie de sa vie"(http://documents.irevues.inist.fr/bitstream/2042/617/1/56_II_1_2_07.pdf). Revue d' EtudesAugustiniennes et Patristiques 2: 71–78.Stephen T. Davis, Daniel Kendall, Gerald O'Collins, ed. (2002). The Trinity: an interdisciplinarysymposium on the Trinity. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978­0­19­924612­0.González, Justo (1984), The Story of Christianity (http://books.google.com/books?id=mN5UPgAACAAJ), Peabody: Prince Press, ISBN 978­1­56563­522­7, retrieved 20 January 2013Robert Jenson (2002). The Triune Identity: God According to the Gospel. Wipf & Stock. ISBN 978­1­57910­962­2.Duane H. Larson (1995). Times of the trinity: a proposal for theistic cosmology. P. Lang. ISBN 978­0­8204­2706­5.Morwenna Ludlow (2000). Universal salvation: eschatology in the thought of Gregory of Nyssa and

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Karl Rahner (http://books.google.com/books?id=D_U1887kuFgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=gregory+of+nyssa+universal+salvation&hl=en&sa=X&ei=l8MZT­69L7SPsALC­fW8Cw&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false). OxfordUniversity Press. ISBN 978­0­19­827022­5.Morwenna Ludlow (2007). Gregory of Nyssa : ancient and (post)modern. Oxford University Press.ISBN 978­0­19­928076­6.Giulio Maspero, Lucas F. Mateo Seco, ed. (2009). The Brill dictionary of Gregory of Nyssa(http://books.google.com/books?id=lD3zg6t4y7MC&pg=PA103&dq=gregory+of+nyssa+biography&hl=en&sa=X&ei=zwYUT4SzE8bn0QGF6t2pAw&ved=0CFwQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q&f=false). Leiden: BRILL. ISBN 978­90­04­16965­4.Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos, Life after Death(http://www.pelagia.org/htm/b24.en.life_after_death.01.htm). Retrieved 22 January 2012.Pfister, J. Emile (June 1964). "A Biographical Note: The Brothers and Sisters of St. Gregory ofNyssa". Vigiliae Christianae 18 (2): 108–113.Raymond Van Dam (2002). Kingdom of snow: Roman rule and Greek culture in Cappadocia.University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978­0­8122­3681­1.Raymond Van Dam (2003). Becoming Christian: the conversion of Roman Cappadocia. Universityof Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978­0­8122­3738­2.John W. Watt, Jan Willem Drijvers (1999). Portraits of spiritual authority: religious power in earlyChristianity, Byzantium, and the Christian Orient (http://books.google.com/books?id=F9n0s4m_vucC&pg=PA120&dq=gregory+of+nyssa+athens&hl=en&sa=X&ei=6RQUT_jEL6f50gHLzZn_Ag&ved=0CF4Q6AEwBw#v=onepage&q&f=false). Leiden: BRILL. ISBN 978­90­04­11459­3.

Further reading

Primary sources

The complete works of Gregory of Nyssa are published in the original Greek with Latin commentary asGregorii Nysseni Opera:

Vol. 1 ­ Werner Jaeger, ed. (2002). Contra Eunomium libri I et II. Brill. ISBN 978­90­04­03007­7.Vol. 2 ­ Werner Jaeger, ed. (2002). Contra Eunomium liber III. Brill. ISBN 978­90­04­03934­6.Vol. 3/1 ­ Friedrich Muller, ed. (1958). Opera dogmatica minora, pars I. Brill. ISBN 978­90­04­04788­4.Vol. 3/2 ­ K. Kenneth Downing, Jacobus A. McDonough, S.J. Hadwiga Hörner, ed. (1987). Operadogmatica minora, pars II. Brill. ISBN 978­90­04­07003­5.

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Vol. 3/3 ­ Opera dogmatica minora, pars III ­ currently unavailable.Vol. 3/4 ­ Ekkehard Mühlenberg, ed. (1996). Opera dogmatica minora, pars IV. Brill. ISBN 978­90­04­10348­1.Vol. 3/5 ­ Ekkehard Mühlenberg, ed. (2008). Opera dogmatica minora, pars V. Brill. ISBN 978­90­04­13314­3.Vol. 4/1 ­ Hubert Drobner, ed. (2009). Opera exegetica In Genesim, pars I. Brill. ISBN 978­90­04­13315­0.Vol. 4/2 ­ Opera exegetica In Genesim, pars II ­ currently unavailable.Vol. 5 ­ J. McDonough, P. Alexander, ed. (1986). In Inscriptiones Psalmorum: In Sextum Psalmum:In Ecclesiasten Homiliae. Brill. ISBN 978­90­04­08186­4.Vol. 6 ­ H. Langerbeck, ed. (1986). In Canticum Canticorum. Brill. ISBN 978­90­04­08187­1.Vol. 7/1 ­ John F. Callahan, ed. (2009). Opera exegetica In Exodum et Novum Testamentum, pars 1.Brill. ISBN 978­90­04­00747­5.Vol. 7/2 ­ John F. Callahan, ed. (1992). Opera exegetica In Exodum et Novum Testamentum, pars 2.Brill. ISBN 978­90­04­09598­4.Vol. 8/1 ­ Werner Jaeger, J.P. Cavarnos, V.W. Callahan, ed. (1986). Opera ascetica et Epistulae,pars 1. Brill. ISBN 978­90­04­08188­8.Vol. 8/2 ­ Giorgio Pasquali, ed. (2002). Opera ascetica et Epistulae, pars 2. Brill. ISBN 978­90­04­11182­0.Vol. 9 ­ G. Heil, A. van Heck, E. Gebhardt, A. Spira, ed. (1992). Sermones, pars 1. Brill. ISBN 978­90­04­00750­5.Vol. 10/1 ­ G. Heil, J. P. Cavarnos, O. Lendle, ed. (1990). Sermones, pars 2. Brill. ISBN 978­90­04­08123­9.Vol. 10/2 ­ Ernestus Rhein, Friedhelm Mann, Dörte Teske, Hilda Polack, ed. (1996). Sermones, pars3. Brill. ISBN 978­90­04­10442­6.

Secondary sources

Azkoul, Michael (1995). St. Gregory of Nyssa and the tradition of the fathers. Lewiston, NY: E.Mellen Press. ISBN 0­7734­8993­2.Maspero, Giulio (2007). Trinity and man ­ Gregory of Nyssa's Ad Ablabium. Leiden: Brill.ISBN 978­90­474­2079­8.Meredith, Anthony (1995). The Cappadocians. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press.ISBN 0­88141­112­4.

References

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1. ^ Book of Acts, 2:9

2. ^ a b Van Dam 2003, p. 13. ^ Mateo Seco & Maspero, p. 1274. ^ Watt & Drijvers, p. 995. ^ Mateo Seco & Maspero, pp. 127­8

6. ^ a b Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 1037. ^ Van Dam (2003), p. 778. ^ Pfister (1964), pp. 108, 113

9. ^ a b Lowther Clarke, W.K., The Life of St. Macrina, (London: SPCK, 1916)10. ^ Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 10411. ^ Gregory Nazianzen, Oration, 43.5­612. ^ Gregory of Nyssa: The Letters. Translated by Anna M. Silvas, p. 3.13. ^ González 1984, p. 18514. ^ Watt & Drijvers, p. 120

15. ^ a b Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 10516. ^ Ludlow 2000, p. 2117. ^ Daniélou, pp. 73–7618. ^ Maspero & Mateo Seco, p.10619. ^ Van Dam, p. 77

20. ^ a b Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 10721. ^ Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 10822. ^ Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 10923. ^ Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 110

24. ^ a b c d Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 111

25. ^ a b Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 11226. ^ Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 11427. ^ For example, see Knight, George T. (1908–14). Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. London

and New York: Funk and Wagnalls. pp. 96–8.28. ^ Coakley et al., pp. 1–14

29. ^ a b Davis et al., p. 1430. ^ Larson, p. 42

31. ^ a b Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 75032. ^ Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 75133. ^ Jenson, pp. 105–634. ^ Jenson, p. 167

35. ^ a b Ludlow 2007, p. 4336. ^ Ludlow 2007, p. 5137. ^ Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 42438. ^ The life of Moses / Gregory of Nyssa ; translation, introd. and notes by Abraham J. Malherbe and Everett

Ferguson ; pref. by John Meyendorff Page 81

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39. ^ Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 6840. ^ Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 42541. ^ Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 52242. ^ In Illud 17; 21 (Downing)43. ^ In Illud 14 (Downing)44. ^ Ilaria Ramelli: The Christian Doctrine of Apokatastasis (Brill 2013), p. 43245. ^ Morwenna Ludlow: Gregory of Nyssa, Ancient and Postmodern (Oxford: University Press 2007)46. ^ Hans Boersma: Embodiment and Virtue (Oxford 2013)47. ^ J.A. McGuckin: "Eschatological Horizons in the Cappadocian Fathers" in Apocalyptic Thought in Early

Christianity (Grand Rapids 2009)48. ^ Constantine Tsirpanlis: "The Concept of Universal Salvation in Gregory of Nyssa" in Greek Patristic Theology

I (New York 1979)49. ^ Giulio Maspero: Trinity and Man (Brill 2007), p. 9150. ^ Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 57

51. ^ a b Ludlow 2000, p. 8052. ^ Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 56­57

53. ^ a b Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 5954. ^ Ilaria Ramelli: The Christian Doctrine of Apokatastasis (Brill 2013), pp. 433­455. ^ Baghos, Mario (2012). "Reconsidering Apokatastasis in St Gregory of Nyssa's On the Soul and Resurrection

and the Catechetical Oration"(http://www.academia.edu/1996885/Reconsidering_Apokatastasis_in_St_Gregory_of_Nyssas_On_the_Soul_and_Resurrection_and_the_Catechetical_Oration). Phronema 27 (2): 125–162. Retrieved 17 August 2013.

56. ^ Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 3857. ^ Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 3958. ^ Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 41

59. ^ a b Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 4260. ^ D. Bentley Hart (2001). The ‘Whole Humanity’: Gregory of Nyssa's Critique of Slavery in Light of His

Eschatology. Scottish Journal of Theology, 54, pp 51­69. doi:10.1017/S0036930600051188.61. ^ Homilies on Ecclesiastes; Hall and Moriarty, trs., de Gruyter (New York, 1993) p. 74.62. ^ The perennial tradition of Neoplatonism, p. 18863. ^ The perennial tradition of Neoplatonism, p. 188–9464. ^ Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 53165. ^ Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 53266. ^ Life after Death, ch. 867. ^ "Parish History" (http://www.stgregory.ca.goarch.org/ParishHistory.dsp). Church of St. Gregory of Nyssa, San

Diego. Retrieved 22 January 2012.

68. ^ a b Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 17069. ^ "Only a very small number of initiates have read and are aware of Gregory of Nyssa, and they have jealously

guarded their secret" ­ Hans Urs von Balthasar, Presence and Thought: An Essay on the Religious Philosophy ofGregory of Nyssa (1942), as quoted in Maspero & Mateo Seco, p.170

70. ^ Ludlow 2007, p. 232

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External links

Ancient Greek OCR of Gregory of Nyssa's writings in PG atthe Lace (http://heml.mta.ca/lace) repository of Mount AllisonUniversity: vol. 45(http://heml.mta.ca/lace/runs/patrologiaecursu45mignuoft),vol. 46(http://heml.mta.ca/lace/runs/patrologiaecursu46mignuoft)Gregory of Nyssa Home Page (http://www.sage.edu/faculty/salomd/nyssa/index.html), includingmany English translations of his writings. "St. Gregory of Nyssa". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.

Gregory of Nyssa Subreddit (http://www.reddit.com/r/gregoryofnyssa)Gregory of Nyssa Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/St­Gregory­of­Nyssa/29108394087)Gregory of Nyssa (http://www.iep.utm.edu/g/gregoryn.htm) from "The Internet Encyclopedia ofPhilosophy"Gregory of Nyssa Elpanor Page (http://www.elpenor.org/nyssa/default.asp)"Opera Omnia (http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/20_30_0330­0395­_Gregorius_Nyssenus,_Sanctus.html) by Migne, Patrologia Graeca with analytical indexes.Relics of St. Gregory of Nyssa (http://www.orthodoxphotos.com/cgi­bin/photo.pl?path=Holy_Relics/Various&file=6.jpg)Schaff's Nicene and Post­Nicene Fathers (online), including the works of St. Gregory(http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf205.html)"Commentary on Song of Songs; Letter on the Soul; Letter on Ascesis and the Monastic Life'(http://www.wdl.org/en/item/4168), a manuscript from the 14th­century of Gregory of Nyssa's work,translated into Arabic

71. ^ Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 17172. ^ Maspero & Mateo Seco, p. 17273. ^ The Seventh General Council, the Second of Nicaea, Held A.D. 787, in which the Worship of Images was

Established: With Copious Notes from the "Caroline Books", Compiled by Order of Charlemagne for ItsConfutation, Council of Nicea, Translated by Mendham, John, Published by John. W.E. Painter, 1850, page 382

74. ^ Henry Fairfield Osborn, From the Greeks to Darwin (http://books.google.com/books?id=ONYKAAAAIAAJ&)Macmillan and Co. (1905) p.69,71

75. ^ Meredith, Anthony (1999). Gregory of Nyssa (The Early Church Fathers). p. 100. ISBN 9780415118408.76. ^ Carter, J. Kameron, Race a Theological Account, Oxford University Press, 2008, Page 231

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