GREGORY
15
GREGORY
Watkins in Diet. Christ. Biog.. s. v. Gregortus Nazwnzenus.-
Fleury, HL.t. EccUsiastnue (Paris, 1S40 II, Bk XVIII; de
Brogi.ie, VEglim el VEmpireEomainau 'f "«';'« (P^ns, 1S66 .
V- Newman. The Arians of the Fourth Cejilimj (London, 1854).
•n'4-227- Idem. Church of the Fathers in Historical Sketches;
BmaUT The Age of the Fathers (London, 1903), I, 408-161;
PVSE^^ The Councils of the Church A. D.,S1--A D. jWHOxford
1S571 76-33; HoRE, Eighteen Centuries of the Orthodox Greek
Church {London. 1899), 162. 164, 168, etc.; Tillemont. 71/™
Hist Eccles.. IX; Mason, Five Theolog. Discourses of Greg, of
Nazianz. (Cambridge. 1899). ^ „ ,t -d
D. O. Hunter-Blair.
Gregory of Neocaesarea, Saint, known as Thau- MATDRGUS (6 QavixaTovpyb^, the miracle- worker), b. at NeocKsarea in Pontus (Asia Minor) about 213; d. there 270-275. Among those who built up the Christian Church, extended its influence, and strengthened its institutions, the bishops of Asia Minor occupy a high position; among them Gregory of Neocaesarea holds a very prominent place. His pastoral work is but lit- tle known, and his theological writings have reached us in a very incomplete state. In this semi-obscurity the personality of this great man seems eclipsed and dwarfed; even his immemorial title Thaumaturgus (the wonder-worker) casts an air of legend about him. Nevertheless, the lives of few bishops of the third cen- tury are so well authenticated; the historical refer- ences to him permit us to reconstruct his work with considerable detail. Originally he was known as Theo- dore (the gift of God), not an exclusively Christian name. Moreover, his family was pagan, and he was unacquainted with the Christian religion till after the death of his father, at which time he was fourteen years old. He had a brother Athenodorus, and, on the advice of one of their tutors, the young men were anxious to study law at the law-school of Beirut, then one of the four or five famous schools in the Hellenic world. At this time, also, their brother-in-law was appointed assessor to the Roman Governor of Pales- tine; the youths had therefore an occasion to act as an escort to their sister as far as Caesarea in Palestine. On arrival in that town they learned that the cele- brated scholar Ori?en, head of the catechetical school of Alexandria, resided there. Curiosity led them to hear and converse with the master, and his irresistible charm did the rest. Soon both youths forgot all about Beirut and Roman law, and gave themselves up to the great Christian teacher, who gradually won them over to Christianity. In his panegyric on Origen, Gregory describes the method employed by that master to wm the confidence and esteem of those he wished to con- vert; how he mingled a persuasive candour with out- bursts of temper and theological argument put clev- erly at once and unexpectedly. Persuasive skill rather than bare reasoning, an evident sincerity and an ardent conviction were the means Origen used to make converts. Gregory took up at first the study oi philosophy; theology was afterwards added, but his mind remained always inclined to philosophical study, so much so indeed that in his youth he cherished strongly the hope of demonstrating that the Christian religion was the only true and good philosophy. For seven years he underwent the mental and moral disci- pline of Origen (231 to 238 or 239). There is no reason to believe that his studies were interrupted by the persecutions of Maximinus of Thrace; his alleged journey to Alexandria, at this time, may therefore be considered at least doubtful, and probably never occurred.
In 238 or 239 the two brothers returned to their native Pontus. Before leaving Palestine Gregory de- liverer! in presence of Origen a public farewell oration in which he returned thanks to the illustrious master he was leaving. This oration is valuable from many points of view. As a rhetorical exercise it exhibits the excellent training given by Origen, and his skill in developing literary taste ; it exhibits also the amount of adulation then permissible towards a living person to an assembly composed mostly of Christians, and
Christian in temper. It contains, moreover, much use-
ful information concerning the youth of Gregory and
his master's method of teaching. A letter of Origen
refers to the departure of the two brothers, but it is
not easy to determine whether it was WTitten before or
after the delivery of this oration. In it Origen exhorts
(quite unnecessarily, it is true) his pupils to bring the
intellectual treasures of the Greeks to the service of
Christian philosophy, and thus imitate the Jews who
employed the golden vessels of the Egyptians to adorn
the Holy of Holies. It may be supposed that despite
the original abandonment of Beirut and the study of
Roman law, Gregory had not entirely given up the
original purpose of his journey to the Orient; as a
matter of fact, he returned to Pontus with the intention
of practising law. His plan, however, was again laid
aside, for he was soon consecrated bishop of his native
Cjesarea, by Phcedimus, Bishop of Amasea and Metro-
politan of Pontus. This fact illustrates in an interest-
ing way the growth of the hierarchy in the primitive
Church, for we know that the Christian community at
Csesarea was very small, being only seventeen souls,
and it was given a bishop. We know, moreover, from
ancient canonical documents, that it was possible for a
community of even ten Christians to have their own
bishop. When Gregory was consecrated he was forty
years old, and he ruled his diocese for thirty years.
Although we know nothing definite as to his methods,
we cannot doubt that he must have shown much zeal
in increasing the little flock with which he began his
episcopal administration. From an ancient source we
learn a tact that is at once a curious coincidence, and
throws light on his missionary zeal; whereas he began
with only seventeen Christians, at his death there
remained but seventeen pagans in the whole town of
Cfesarea. The many miracles which won for him the
title of "Thaumaturgus" were doubtless performed
during these years. The Oriental mind revels so natu-
rally in the marvellous that a serious historian cannot
accept unconditionally all its product; yet if ever the
title of "wonder-worker" was deserved, Gregory had
a right to it.
It is to be noted here that our sources of information as to the life, teaching, and actions of Gregi^ry Thau- maturgus are all more or less open to criticism. Be- sides the details given us by Gregory himself, and of which we have already spoken, there are four other sources of information, all, according to Kotschau, derived from oral tradition; indeed, the differences between them force the conclusion that they cannot all be derived from one common written source. They are: Life and Panegyric of Gregory by St. Gregory of Nyssa (P. G., XLVI, col. 893 sqq.) ; " Historia Miracu- lorum ", by Rufinus; an account in Syriac of the great actions of Blessed Gregory (sbcth century manuscript) ; St. Basil, "De Spu-itu Sancto". Gregory of Nyssa (q. v.), with the help of family traditions and a knowl- edge of the neighbourhood, has left us an account of the " Thaumaturgus " that is certainly more historical than any other known to us. From Rufinus we see that in his day (c. 400) the original story was becom- ing confused; the Syriac account is at times obscure and contradictory. Even the life by Gregory of Nyssa exhibits a legendary element, though its facts were all supplied to tTie writer by his grandmother, St. Macrina the Elder. He relates that before his episcopal conse- cration Gregory retired from Neocaesarea into a soli- tude, and was favoured by an apparition of the Blessed Virgin and the Apostle St. John, and that the latter dictated to him a creed or formula of Christian faith, of which the autograph existed at Neocaesarea when the biography was being written. The creed itself is quite important for the histoiy of Christian doctrine (Caspari, " Alte und neue Quellen zur Gesch. d. Taufsymbols und der Glaubensregel", Christiania, 1879, 1-64). Gregory of Nyssa describes at length the miracles that gained for the Bishop of Caesarea the
