"A Paraphrase of Ecclesiastes" and a "Canonical Epistle" were edited by Vossius at Leipsic in 1604.—W. B.
Gregory of Nazianzus, so named from the place of his residence, an obscure town of Cappadocia, was born near to the time of the Nicene council, probably in the year 328 or 329, at Arianzus, a small village near to Nazianzus. His father, who is also known as Gregory of Nazianzus, was bishop of that place; and his mother, Nonna, is celebrated for her piety and attachment to sound doctrine. By her he was dedicated from his birth to the service of God; and while his father took care that he was instructed in all the secular learning of his age, his mother made it her especial care to train him up in piety and virtue. He studied first at Cæsarea, then in Palestine, after that at Alexandria, and finally at Athens. Here he had the basis of his friendship with the great Basil; and when the latter left Athens he would have accompanied him, but was prevented by the earnest entreaties of the students, who in a body urged him to remain and instruct them in rhetoric. The next year, 356, he returned home, and after some years, spent in a kind of semi-monastic retirement, he was, without his own consent or knowledge, ordained a presbyter by his father. This took place in 360 or 361. At first he sought to shun the post to which he had been thus called, but at length he consented to assume the sacred office. His first sermon was preached at the feast of Easter in 362; this is extant in an expanded form, and is known as his “Apologetic Discourse for his flight." He was disturbed in the peaceful discharge of his duties at Nazianzus by the threatenings of the Emperor Julian, whose wrath he had incurred, but was delivered from his fears by the death of the emperor in 363, an event which he commemorated in two discourses still extant. From this time till 372 he was occupied in his ministerial functions amid varied vicissitudes of domestic life, among which may be mentioned the death of his brother Cæsarius, which gave occasion to what has been considered his finest oration. In 372 his ancient friendship with Basil received a rude shock in consequence of the latter, who was now metropolitan of Cappadocia, having erected a bishopric at the mean and unhealthy town of Sasima, and offered it to Gregory. The latter having found a vent for his indignation in a series of orations (Orat. 5, 6, 7), resumed his friendship with Basil, but never visited his bishopric. After a time he consented to become joint-bishop of Nazianzus with his father, on condition that, after his father's death, he should be at liberty to resign his office and retire into privacy. His father lived till 374, having reached the age of nearly a hundred years, and Gregory, having pronounced over him a funeral oration (Orat. 19), prepared to avail himself of the liberty for which he had stipulated, by laying down his bishopric. The entreaties of the people, however, induced him to remain, though he never recognized himself as bishop of Nazianzus, but only as the locum tenens of the bishop till one was appointed. After a while he fled to Seleucia seeking retirement, and there he remained for about four years (375-79), at the close of which he was forced from his seclusion to support the cause of the orthodox party against the Arians in the council of Constantinople. His success was great, though not achieved without a severe struggle, of which we have some evidences in several of his orations delivered at Constantinople at this time, which are still extant; and still more so in the fact that he suffered persecution and personal violence from the Arians. In 380 the Emperor Theodosius, having visited Constantinople, was constrained to comply with the popular wish and make Gregory bishop of that city, and the same power compelled him to accept the office. He held it for little more than a year, when he gladly resigned it, and took leave of the people of Constantinople in a discourse which is ranked amongst his finest. On his way to Nazianzus he visited Cæsarea, and there delivered his famous funeral oration for his old friend Basil. After residing at Nazianzus till 383, he finally retired to his birthplace, Arianzus, where he died in 389 or 390. Several editions of his works have appeared; the best is that of Morell, Paris, 1630. Of parts of his works the editions are numerous.—W. L. A.
Gregory of Nyssa, one of the Greek Fathers, and brother of Basil the Great, was born at Cæsarea of Cappadocia in the year 331 or 332. Having received a superior education, his brother and Gregory Nazianzus were anxious that he should devote himself to the ministry of the gospel, but for a season he refused and engaged in secular pursuits. Ultimately, however, he consented to receive ordination at the hands of Basil, and was appointed bishop of Nyssa, a small town of Cappadocia. This took place about 372. Espousing the cause of orthodoxy against the Arians, he became so zealous in his opposition to them as to provoke their hatred, and induce them to persecute him. Through their means he was in 375 banished by the Emperor Valens, who favoured their side; but he was restored in 378, when Gratian ascended the throne. In the following year he attended the council of Antioch, and having been commissioned by the synod of that city to visit Arabia, he travelled thither, and on his return in 380 or 381 visited Jerusalem. The state of things which he found there so shocked him, that he published a letter inveighing against the practice of pilgrimages to the Holy City. He was present at the council at Constantinople in 381, and took an active part in its business, especially in urging the addition to the Nicene creed of an article touching the doctrine of the Holy Ghost. He was present also at the second council at Constantinople in 394. The date of his death is uncertain, but probably it took place before the close of the century. His works consist of treatises on controversial and practical theology, homilies, orations, and letters. The best edition is that of Morell and Gretser, 2 vols. fol., Paris, 1615-18, and 1638.—W. L. A.
Gregory of Agrigentum, a bishop and ecclesiastical writer, born at Agrigentum about 524; died about 564. Having studied at Carthage, Jerusalem, and Constantinople, he repaired to Rome, and was there appointed to the see of Agrigentum in Sicily. A charge of criminal indulgence was ere long laid against him, but he successfully rebutted it before the Emperor Justinian. A commentary which he wrote on Ecclesiastes has been lost; and his only works now extant are religious discourses, chiefly popular.—W. B.
Gregory of Antioch, a Byzantine monk of the sixth century, noted for his rigid ascetic habits, was raised to the patriarchate of Antioch. He was suspected of conniving at, and even of aiding in, the sorceries charged against Anatolius, with whom he was on terms of intimacy; but the trial disclosed nothing that criminated the patriarch. Having subsequently quarreled with the governor of the city, the populace took part against him; he was accused of incest, and by an appeal to the emperor succeeded in obtaining his acquittal. If we may form a judgment from the nature of the political services with which he was intrusted, his abilities were less questionable than his character.—W. B.
Gregory, surnamed Lousavorich, or the Illuminator, was born at Vagharchabad in 257; and having entered the service of Tiridates III., the exiled king of Armenia, accompanied him into his dominions on his return to power, and there laboured so successfully as a teacher of christianity about the beginning of the fourth century, that he has been styled the apostle of the Armenian church, of which he was ordained bishop. He afterwards spent his time almost entirely in monastic seclusion, and died about 332.—W. B.
GREGORY or GRIG, King of Scotland, was originally the maormor, or chief, of the country between the Dee and the Spey. He rebelled against his sovereign Aodh, or Hugh, wounded him in battle, and on his death shortly after, Grig usurped the government in 882. He associated with himself on the throne Eochar, son of the king of Strathclyde; but he and his colleague were expelled by a popular insurrection in 893. He was a benefactor to the church; and the monkish historians have in consequence related many fabulous stories respecting his virtues, valour, and conquests.—J. T.
GREGORY of St. Vincent, a Flemish geometer and ecclesiastic, was born at Bruges in 1584, and died at Ghent on the 27th of January, 1667. He entered the order of jesuits about 1604, studied mathematics under Clavius, and became professor of mathematics in his native city. His celebrity as a teacher caused him to be invited to Prague by the Emperor Ferdinand II., and afterwards to Spain by King Philip IV. During a campaign in Flanders, he followed the Spanish army in order to confess and absolve soldiers dying on the field of battle, and while so occupied was several times wounded. His principal work is entitled "Opus Geometricum Quadraturæ Circuli et Sectionum Coni," and was published at Antwerp in 1647, in two vols. folio.—W. J. M. R.
GREGORY of Tours (Georgius Florentius): the date of his birth is uncertain, but is with probability referred to 544;
