CrucisSt. Gregory of Nazianzus
St. Gregory of Nazianzus was born around 329 near Nazianzus in Cappadocia (in modern Turkey), the son of a bishop, and died around 390. A close friend of St. Basil the Great from their student days in Athens, he was drawn to a life of contemplation and reluctant to accept public office, yet was ordained and eventually called to lead the beleaguered Nicene community in Constantinople. He is honored as one of the three Cappadocian Fathers.
While at Constantinople he delivered his celebrated Five Theological Orations, masterful defenses of the divinity of the Son and the Holy Spirit against Arianism, which earned him the rare title 'the Theologian,' shared in the East only with St. John the Evangelist. He presided for a time over the First Council of Constantinople in 381, which reaffirmed the Nicene Creed, before withdrawing to a quiet life of prayer and writing. He is venerated as a Father and Doctor of the Church.
Selected quotes
“Friendship is one of God's greatest gifts — in the friend who seeks God with you, you find a foretaste of the eternal communion for which you were created.”
“Humility is the first qualification of the theologian — the proud man studies God to master Him, and this project fails from its very first step.”
“The Trinity is not first an idea and then a reality; it is first a reality and then, imperfectly, an idea — every concept falls short of the truth it is trying to name.”