Presenting Saint Gregory of Nazianzus
The Sharp-Tongued St. Gregory of Nazianzus
While I am sure much could be said of this great man, I simply want to present to us the literary master which is Saint Gregory of Nazianzus. Below is the Wikipedia blurb on the man, but my actually point of interest is the two quotes following ,which clearly set Gregory apart with his piercing literary talent for ruthlessly cutting off the propagators of heresy from the faith. It is not enough to say you can’t show up to mass next week, it must be done with a supreme eye for style. Certainly making it his mission in life to tag-team with St. Peter in keeping unwelcome guest from trespassing through the pearly gates, Gregory uses his full reservoir of brazen wit in dealing with these unorthodox malcontents within the church and make sure they understand just how severe their own teachings really are.
Gregory of Nazianzus (330 – January 25, 389 or 390) (also known as Gregory the Theologian or Gregory Nazianzen) was a 4th-century Archbishop of Constantinople. He is widely considered the most accomplished rhetorical stylist of the patristic age. As a classically trained speaker and philosopher he infused Hellenism into the early church, establishing the paradigm of Byzantine theologians and church officials.
Gregory made a significant impact on the shape of Trinitarian theology among both Greek- and Latin-speaking theologians, and he is remembered as the “Trinitarian Theologian”. Much of his theological work continues to influence modern theologians, especially in regard to the relationship among the three Persons of the Trinity. Along with the two brothers, Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa, he is known as one of the Cappadocian Fathers.
Gregory is a saint in both Eastern and Western Christianity. In the Roman Catholic Church he is numbered among the Doctors of the Church; in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Eastern Catholic Churches he is revered as one of the Three Holy Hierarchs, along with Basil the Great and John Chrysostom.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_of_Nazianzus
If anyone has put his trust in Him (Jesus) as a Man without a human mind, he is really bereft of mind, and quite unworthy of salvation. For that which He has not assumed He has not healed.
Gregory of Nazianzus
To Cledonius The Priest Against
Apollinarius.
If any assert that He has now put off His holy flesh, and that His Godhead is stripped of the body, and deny that He is now with His body and will come again with it, let him not see the glory of His Coming. For where is His body now, if not with Him Who assumed it? … If anyone assert that His flesh came down from heaven, and is not from hence, nor of us though above us, let him be anathema[1].
Gregory of Nazianzus
To Cledonius The Priest Against
Apollinarius.
The lesson to be learned here is simple; while you may make fun of their cloths or think that the nicely permed beard is perhaps a fashion step too far even for a doctor of the faith, one must be careful when speaking against their doctrine. Surely Gregory’s main hobbies involved constructing elegantly phrased ways in which he could cut one off from the Catholic faith, for what is a good excommunication without a little literary flair.
[1] anath·e·ma n. from Greek. a : a ban or curse solemnly pronounced by ecclesiastical authority and accompanied by excommunication b : the denunciation of something as accursed c : a vigorous denunciation.
