Wisdom of Saints: St Gregory of Nazianzus

 The Feast of Gregory of Nazianzus, Doctor, Bishop of Constantinople, 389

O GOD, who by thy Holy Spirit hast given unto one man a word of wisdom, and to another a word of knowledge, and to another the gift of tongues: We praise thy Name for the gifts of grace manifested in thy servant Gregory, and we pray that thy Church may never be destitute of the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Octave of the Ascension

O GOD the King of Glory, who hast exalted thine only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph unto thy kingdom in heaven: We beseech thee, leave us not comfortless; but send to us thine Holy Ghost to comfort us, and exalt us unto the same place whither our Saviour Christ is gone before; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

St Gregory of Nazianzus was one of the three Cappadocian Fathers, along with his friend St Basil the Great and Basil's brother St Gregory of Nyssa, and one of the most eminent theologians of the Patristic age. He is one of the four great doctors of the East and continues to exert a great influence on the theology of the Church.

St Gregory was born in a small village near Nazianzus in Cappadocia. His mother had converted his father to Christianity, and indeed it seems that St Gregory was born after his father had been ordained a priest and just prior to his consecration as Bishop of Nazianzus. His parents were wealthy, and he soon outgrew his original education at home by his uncle and was sent to Caesarea Cappadocia to receive the remainder of his classical education there, where he ultimately studied under the same tutor who would later educate St John Chrysostom. His education took him even further afield, as far as Athens. It was during this trip to Athens that St Gregory, already a Christian by virtue of his parents, dedicated himself to Christ. While journeying by sea there was a terrible storm. Fearing for his life, St Gregory prayed that if God would see him through the storm to safety he would dedicate the remainder of his life to serving his Lord.

St Gregory had originally met and befriended St Basil while at school in Caesarea, however it was in Athens that they reconnected and renewed their friendship which would continue for the rest of their lives. They began a collaboration in Athens to compile some of the works of Origen, who was then the greatest and most prolific Christian writer. All serious Christians knew and read Origen.

St Basil found himself drawn to the ascetic and monastic lifestyle and soon after would invite his friend St Gregory to join him in the monastic life. St Gregory's monastic life was cut short, as ultimately St Basil's would be as well, when his father, the Bishop of Nazianzus, called him home to serve in the Church. St Gregory was ordained as priest and eventually became Suffragan Bishop serving throughout Cappadocia, assisting his father in combating heresy and persecution.

St Gregory had been born into a turbulent time in the Church. While the Edict of Milan had ended official persecution against Christianity, the moment the government ceased official persecution of the Church, the Church descended into division over the need to articulate doctrinal orthodoxy over a number of issues that were now splitting the Church. First and foremost among these was Arianism. In 325, Emperor Constantine had called the Council of Nicaea, which had ultimately condemned Arianism and proclaimed the first part of what would become the Nicene Creed. When St Gregory was born, however, Arianism continued to thrive, as it would for several more centuries.

Arianism found wide purchase in Cappadocia in St Gregory's day, and to make matters worse, around the time of his ordination, St Gregory found himself also challenged by Emperor Julian the Apostate who had come to the throne. St Gregory had studied with Julian and early on, even before his declared apostasy and efforts as Emperor to return the Empire to Roman paganism, had found Emperor Julian to be troubled and described him as an evil the Roman state was nourishing.

St Gregory would begin his ministry combating both the heresy of Arianism and the threat of persecution under Julian, though ultimately Arianism would prove to be the larger threat with Julian's reign being short lived and his successor, Emperor Jovian, being an avowed Christian.

St Gregory's father died in 374 and St Gregory succeeded him as the Bishop of Nazianzus. His fame continued to grow and in 379 he was invited to go to Constantinople following the death of the Arian Emperor Valens. He did, and had significant success in reducing the Arian influence in the capitol. In 381 he presided at the Council of Constantinople, called to conclude the formation of the anti-Arian Nicene Creed first began in 325 shortly before St Gregory's birth. He continued to serve in Constantinople until 382 when he retired, returning to Nazianzus living out his final days in relative quiet before passing away in peace in 391.

St Gregory is known in many quarters as St Gregory the Theologian. This is both to distinguish him from St Gregory of Nyssa, brother to St Basil the Great and also reflects on the importance of his doctrinal statements, many of which remain in extant. He was a well-known orator, having recorded many of his writings. Earlier in his career just after his ordination he wrote an oration discussing the nature of the priestly office. This oration forms the basis of much of the theology of later writers such as St John Chrysostom and St Gregory the Great.

St Gregory begins his oration reflecting that:

But in the case of man, hard as it is for him to learn how to submit to rule, it seems far harder to know how to rule over men, and hardest of all, with this rule of ours, which leads them by the divine law, and to God, for its risk is, in the eyes of a thoughtful man, proportionate to its height and dignity.  For, first of all, he must, like silver or gold, though in general circulation in all kinds of seasons and affairs, never ring false or alloyed, or give token of any inferior matter, needing further refinement in the fire; or else, the wider his rule, the greater evil he will be.  Since the injury which extends to many is greater than that which is confined to a single individual.

In this he reflects on the gravity of the priestly office. That those who are called to it must be above reproach both because they will be examined by others, and also because, through their leadership, a small evil in their own lives may extend that sin to those under his care.

He continues by noting that simply being free of vice is not sufficient call for the office of priest due to its importance:

But granted that a man is free from vice, and has reached the greatest heights of virtue:  I do not see what knowledge or power would justify him in venturing upon this office.  For the guiding of man, the most variable and manifold of creatures, seems to me in very deed to be the art of arts and science of sciences.  Any one may recognize this, by comparing the work of the physician of souls with the treatment of the body; and noticing that, laborious as the latter is, ours is more laborious, and of more consequence, from the nature of its subject matter, the power of its science, and the object of its exercise.

In this, St Gregory begins hinting at the greater divine purpose that underlies the Priesthood. He expounds with a command of language that hints at his enduring popularity. It is also telling that while his primary purpose was an exposition of the Priesthood, St Gregory could not refrain from making a defence of Nicene orthodoxy against Arian heresy when he wrote, “It is necessary neither to be so devoted to the Father, as to rob Him of His Fatherhood, for whose Father would He be, if the Son were separated and estranged from Him, by being ranked with the creation.” He similarly cannot help but highlight the importance of the, “the aid of the Spirit, by Whom alone we are able to perceive, to expound, or to embrace, the truth in regard to God.” His reference here to the Holy Spirit is a reminder also of the second characteristic of his expositions, that of Trinitarianism, and an emphasis on all three persons of the Trinity.

St Gregory the Theologian remains an enduring and foundational father on which much of the theology of the Church today can trace its roots. His influence on several of the other great Doctors, both East and West, solidifies his continued importance, and the blessing in studying his original works.

The Wisdom of Saints: St Jerome

The Feast of Jerome, Doctor, Presbyter in Rome and Bethlehem, Translator of the Scriptures, 420

O GOD, who by thy Holy Spirit hast given unto one man a word of wisdom, and to another a word of knowledge, and to another the gift of tongues: We praise thy Name for the gifts of grace manifested in thy servant Jerome, and we pray that thy Church may never be destitute of the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

St Jerome was born around 345 to wealthy Christian parents who raised him in faith. At the age of 15 he travelled with a friend to Rome where he began his studies in rhetoric and philosophy. His instruction also included study of both Latin and Greek, which later in life he would supplement with the study of Hebrew. While in Rome he struggled with temptations, and would alternate between giving in to youthful passions and periods of a form of penitential asceticism to assuage his guilty conscience, and would also visit the tombs and catacombs of martyrs and saints under Rome. His fear of the darkness of those tombs was a reminder, he would later write, of the Hell that awaited him if he did not repent of his sinful ways.

St Jerome officially converted to Christianity at the age of 19 and was baptised by the Bishop of Rome. He then moved to Treves, modern day Trier, in Gaul where he began his theological studies. In Treves, he began making copies of the writings of St Hilary of Poitiers which he sold to wealthy patrons, and some of which he kept for himself forming the basis of his own theological library. Upon completion of his studies in Treves he returned to Aquileia, a city near the place of his birth in North-Eastern Italy. There he began making friends in the Christian community, and also developed enemies due to his sharp tongue and less than diplomatic nature. Eventually he chose to leave, heading east for Antioch where he arrived in 373. He studied under some of the local Christian leaders and ultimately began leading an ascetic lifestyle in the desert and where he began his study of Hebrew in order to better understand the Old Testament. Shortly before leaving Antioch, he was ordained a priest by Bishop Paulinus, the Nicaean Bishop of Antioch, in recognition of his academic studies, but only on the condition that he would not be required to fulfil priestly duties.

Around 380 St Jerome travelled to Constantinople where he studied under St Gregory of Nazianzus, Bishop of Constantinople, before being asked by Bishop Paulinus to accompany him to Rome in 382 for a Council to resolve controversies over a schism in Antioch between Arian and Nicene Christians. The Council was held under the leadership of the Bishop of Rome, St Damasus I who ultimately was greatly impressed by Jerome’s arguments and convinced him to stay in Rome and serve as his secretary. St Jerome served the Bishop until Damasus’s death in 384 after which St Jerome was forced to leave Rome due various false charges and scandals being raised against him by the many enemies he had made over his years there. He eventually settled in Jerusalem where he spent the last thirty years of his life working on a Latin translation of the Bible, which had originally been commissioned by St Damasus in 382. It was not completed in St Jerome’s lifetime, but his work ultimately became the standard Bible of the Roman Catholic Church, the Latin Vulgate Bible, for centuries after.

St Jerome is well-known for his writings, with many of his letters, treatises and other works suriving to this day. While his contribution of the Latin Vulgate Bible is probably his most well-recognized contribution, he was considered an extremely learned and articulate writer in his time and many of his other thoughts were considered extremely persuasive.

It was in 383 that St Jerome published his treatise on the Virginity of the Blessed Mary, in response to claims made by Helvidius. Helvidius contended, supported by the writings of Tertullian and St Victorinus of Pettau that references to brethren of Christ in the Scriptures confirmed that Mary had issue subsequent to Christ. Jerome responded with three propositions which today are maintained as Catholic doctrines on the Blessed Virgin Mary. Over the hundred years that followed the publication of the treatise, the views articulated by St Jerome would become the foundation of the views of the Church Fathers on Mary which would survive until modern times. To this day, the Anglican tradition holds that, “ancient Christian authority,” affirms Mary’s perpetual virginity.

St Jerome’s treatise provided three arguments. First that Helvidius had gravely misinterpreted the Gospel of St Matthew 1. 18-25 which describes St Mary and St Joseph. Second, that the use of the term “brethren” of the Lord doesn’t imply biological siblings born of St Mary, but rather that they were Christ’s cousins. Third, St Jerome concluded that virginity is greater than a married state.

On his first claim, in response to verse 25, which reads, “But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.” St Jerome argued that Scripture showed that the word until did not have a fixed meaning as Helvidius replied, citing a number of verses:

Paul the Apostle writing to the Corinthians (1 Cor 15. 23) says, “Christ the first-fruits, afterward they that are Christ’s, at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.” Granted that the passage relates to our Lord’s human nature, we do not deny that the words are spoken of Him who endured the cross and is commanded to sit afterwards on the right hand. What does he mean then by saying, “for he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet”? Is the Lord to reign only until His enemies begin to be under His feet, and once they are under His feet will He cease to reign? Of course His reign will then commence in its fulness when His enemies begin to be under His feet.

The second counter-argument hinges on St Jerome’s contention that Helvidius misunderstood St Luke’s gospel as well where in Lk 2. 6-7 it says, “While they were [in Bethlehem], the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.” A similar counter-argument is presented that simply because Christ is called Mary’s firstborn does not require that there be subsequent issue. In St Jerome’s words:

Our position is this: Every only begotten son is a first-born son, but not every first-born is an only begotten. By first-born we understand not only one who is succeeded by others, but one who has had no predecessor. “Everything,” says the Lord to Aaron (Nm 18. 15), “that openeth the womb of all flesh which they offer unto the Lord, both of man and beast, shall be thine: nevertheless the first born of man shalt thou surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem.” (The word of God defines first-born as everything that openeth the womb. Otherwise, if the title belongs to such only as have younger brothers, the priests cannot claim the firstlings until their successors have been begotten, lest, perchance, in case there were no subsequent delivery it should prove to be the first-born but not merely the only begotten.

Similar Scriptural arguments are presented to show that the term brethren and brothers are used to refer to cousins and other relations, and therefore a reference to James as the brother of the Lord does not necessarily mean he was the son of St Mary and St Joseph.

St Jerome concluded by noting a life of single celibacy, in contrast to Helvidius’s arguments, could more easily be viewed as fruitful to Christian life as married life brings with it many distractions from God, from the concerns of maintaining a household to the raising of children. “Tell me, pray,” asks St Jerome, “where amid all this is there room for the thought of God?”

St Jerome’s blunt words to Helvidius articulated a doctrine on Mary which has been held by the Church for centuries since, and strongly reminds all Christians of the importance of the primacy of Scripture: “We believe that God was born of the Virgin, because we read it. That Mary was married after she brought forth, we do not believe, because we do not read it.”