Saint Gregory of Nyssa | Biography, Works, Legacy, & Facts

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[{"p":1,"t":245703},{"p":1,"t":34124},{"p":1,"t":413955},{"p":1,"t":409036},{"p":9,"t":400861},{"p":1,"t":37864},{"p":1,"t":263195},{"p":15,"t":177174},{"p":3,"t":446723},{"p":1,"t":117198}], "sequence": 1, "topics": {} }); </script> <article class="article-content container-lg qa-content px-0 pt-0 pb-40 py-lg-20 content " data-topic-id="245703"> <div class="grid gx-0"> <div class="col-auto"> <div class="topic-left-rail md-article-drawer position-relative d-flex border-right-sm border-left-sm open"> <div class="drawer d-flex flex-column open"> <div class="left-rail-section-content"> <div class="topic-left-rail-header text-truncate bg-gray-50 position-relative text-right d-flex align-items-center"> <div class="tlr-title px-20 py-15 text-left"> <em class="material-icons text-gray-400 d-lg-none" data-icon="toc"></em> <a class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Gregory-of-Nyssa">Saint Gregory of Nyssa</a> </div> <button 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Easter. Valladolid. Procession of Nazarenos carry a cross during the Semana Santa (Holy week before Easter) in Valladolid, Spain. Good Friday" width="200" height="200" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/quiz/christianity-quiz" >Christianity Quiz</a> </div> </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal tlr-img-with-side-link ml-15 link-gray-900 mb-10" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/quiz/philosophy-101"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/42/163042-131-6AC5D943/greeting-guests-Agathon-canvas-oil-Platos-Symposium-1869.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop" alt="Agathon (centre) greeting guests in Plato's Symposium, oil on canvas by Anselm Feuerbach, 1869; in the Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe, Germany." width="200" height="200" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/quiz/philosophy-101" >Philosophy 101</a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="mb-30 tlr-read-next"> <div class="text-gray-900 p-5 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-10 mb-10"> Read Next </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal tlr-img-with-side-link ml-15 link-gray-900 mb-10" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/list/philosophers-to-know-part-i"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/96/142296-131-425C3B45/Aristotle-types-reasoning.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop" alt="Aristotle (384-322 BC), Ancient Greek philosopher and scientist. 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Owens won a total of four gold medals." width="200" height="200" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/story/was-jesse-owens-snubbed-by-adolf-hitler-at-the-berlin-olympics" >Was Jesse Owens Snubbed by Adolf Hitler at the Berlin Olympics?</a> </div> </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal tlr-img-with-side-link ml-15 link-gray-900 mb-10" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/story/how-many-countries-are-there-in-the-world"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/27/238527-131-D73B3F08/flagpoles-world-countries.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop" alt="Flags of the countries of the world (flagpoles)." width="200" height="200" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/story/how-many-countries-are-there-in-the-world" >How Many 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md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/98/45898-004-FCAC8AF8/St-Gregory-of-Nyssa-detail-mosaic-Palatine.jpg" data-href="/media/1/245703/38469">St. Gregory of Nyssa</a> <span><span>St. Gregory of Nyssa, detail of a mosaic in the Palatine Chapel, Palermo, Italy; 12th century.</span></span> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <span class="link-blue">(more)</span> </button> </span> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </div><div class="topic-header"> <div class="d-flex align-items-top justify-content-between"> <div class="d-flex flex-column"> <div> <div> <h1>Saint Gregory of Nyssa</h1></div> </div> <div class="topic-identifier font-16 font-md-20">Byzantine philosopher and theologian</div> </div> </div> <div class="d-none d-sm-flex flex-row"> <div class="mr-10 mb-15"> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 btn-sm 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Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). </div> <div class="type-menu"> <label for="feedback-type" class="label mb-10">Feedback Type</label> <select id="feedback-type" class="form-select mb-30" name="feedbackTypeId" required> <option value="" selected="selected">Select a type (Required)</option> <option value="1">Factual Correction</option> <option value="2">Spelling/Grammar Correction</option> <option value="3">Link Correction</option> <option value="4">Additional Information</option> <option value="5">Other</option> </select> </div> <label for="feedback" class="label mb-10">Your Feedback</label> <textarea id="feedback" class="form-control mb-30" name="feedback" maxlength="3000" rows="7" required></textarea> <button class="btn btn-blue" type="submit">Submit Feedback</button> </form> <div class="success-messaging d-none mt-30"> <div class="title">Thank you for your feedback</div> <p>Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.</p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="md-websites-modal size-lg d-none"> <div class="md-modal-body"> <div class="h2 font-serif pb-15 border-bottom font-weight-bold"> External Websites </div> <div class="pb-20"> <ul class="list-unstyled mt-20 lh-lg"> <li><a class="external" href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/gregoryn/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Biography of Gregory of Nyssa</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07016a.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">The Catholic Encyclopedia - Biography of Saint Gregory of Nyssa</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="toc-header-marker"></div> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 js-header-ai-ask-button d-none btn-sm btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 mr-0 mr-lg-10 ml-5 ml-sm-10 ml-lg-0 p-10"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> <div class="caption alternate-titles">Also known as: Gregorius Nyssenus</div> <div class="md-byline module-spacing "> <div class="font-serif font-12"> <span class="written-by text-gray-700"> Written by </span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 qa-editor-popup gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor" href="/contributor/Edward-R-Hardy/1231" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">Edward R. Hardy</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Lecturer in Early Church History, University of Cambridge, 1969–75. Professor of Church History, Berkeley Divinity School, New Haven, Connecticut, 1947–69. Author of <i>Christian Egypt: Church and People;...</i></div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Edward R. 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class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 ai-ask-button btn border-2 module-spacing btn-sm js-inline-ai-ask-button btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 p-10 ml-5"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> </div> <div class="js-qf-module qf-module px-40 px-sm-20 py-15 mx-auto module-spacing font-14 bg-gray-50 rounded"> <div class="qf-title font-weight-bold font-14 mb-10 text-center"> Quick Facts</div> <div class="facts-list mt-10"> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Latin: </dt> <dd>Gregorius Nyssenus</dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Born: </dt> <dd>c. 335, Caesarea, in Cappadocia, Asia Minor [now Kayseri, Turkey]</dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Died: </dt> <dd>c. 394</dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class="facts-item-none d-none"> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Notable Works: </dt> <dd><a href="/topic/Great-Catechesis">“Great Catechesis”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Life-of-Moses">“Life of Moses”</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class="facts-item-none d-none"> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Notable Family Members: </dt> <dd>brother <a href="/biography/Saint-Basil-the-Great">St. Basil the Great</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class="facts-item-none d-none"> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Subjects Of Study: </dt> <dd><a href="/topic/Arianism">Arianism</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Platonism">Platonism</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Trinity-Christianity">Trinity</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/mysticism">mysticism</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> <div class="text-center"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link p-0" href="/facts/Saint-Gregory-of-Nyssa"> See all related content </a> </div> </div> </div> <button class="facts-list-show-more-btn mt-15 p-0 mx-auto btn font-14 d-block font-weight-normal"> <span class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></span> <span class="show-more-label">Show More</span> </button> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref1"><span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><strong><span id="ref110361"></span>Saint Gregory of Nyssa</strong> (born c. 335, Caesarea, in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Cappadocia" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Cappadocia</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Anatolia" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Asia Minor</a> [now <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Kayseri" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Kayseri</a>, Turkey]—died c. 394; feast day March 9) was a philosophical theologian and mystic, leader of the orthodox party in the 4th-century Christian controversies over the doctrine of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Trinity-Christianity" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Trinity</a>. Primarily a scholar, he wrote many theological, mystical, and monastic works in which he balanced <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="Platonic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Platonic" data-type="MW">Platonic</a> and Christian traditions.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">A younger son of a distinguished family, Gregory was educated in his native province but was more deeply influenced by his philosophical training than by the other two Cappadocian Fathers of the Church, his brother <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Basil-the-Great" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">St. Basil of Caesarea</a> and their friend <span id="ref110362"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Gregory-of-Nazianzus" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">St. Gregory of Nazianzus</a>. He began his adult life as a teacher of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="rhetoric" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rhetoric" data-type="MW">rhetoric</a> and may have been married, although several references that suggest this are capable of a different interpretation, and the strictures on marriage in his <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="treatise" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/treatise" data-type="MW">treatise</a> <em>On Virginity</em> seem to imply the contrary. In the 360s he turned to religious studies and Christian devotion, perhaps even to the monastic life, under Basil’s inspiration and guidance. As part of Basil’s struggle with Bishop Anthimus of Tyana—whose city became the metropolis (civil and therefore <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="ecclesiastical" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ecclesiastical" data-type="MW">ecclesiastical</a> capital) of western Cappadocia in 372—Gregory was <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="consecrated" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/consecrated" data-type="MW">consecrated</a> as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/bishop-Christianity" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">bishop</a> of Nyssa, a small city in the new province of Cappadocia Secunda, which Basil wished to retain in his ecclesiastical jurisdiction. In 375, however, Gregory was accused of maladministration by the provincial governor as part of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Arianism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Arianizing</a> campaign of the Roman emperor <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Valens" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Valens</a> (an attempt to force the church to accept the views of the heretic <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Arius" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Arius</a>, who denied the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/deity" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">divinity</a> of Christ). Gregory was deposed in 376 by a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/synod" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">synod</a> of bishops and banished, but on Valens’s death in 378 Gregory’s congregation welcomed him back enthusiastically.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Though Basil had considered him unsuited for <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="ecclesiastical" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/ecclesiastical" data-type="EB">ecclesiastical</a> diplomacy, after Gregory’s return to his diocese, he was active in the settlement of church affairs in the years that followed. In 379 he attended a council at Antioch and was sent on a special mission to the churches of Arabia (<em>i.e.,</em> Transjordan); his visit to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Jerusalem" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Jerusalem</a> on this occasion left him with a dislike for the increasingly fashionable <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/pilgrimage-religion" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">pilgrimages</a>, an opinion he expressed vigorously in one of his letters. In 381 he took part in the General (second ecumenical) <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/First-Council-of-Constantinople-381" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Council at Constantinople</a> and was recognized by the emperor <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Theodosius-I" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Theodosius</a> as one of the leaders of the orthodox communion in Cappadocia, along with Basil’s <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="successor" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/successor" data-type="EB">successor</a> at Caesarea. Gregory declined election to the important bishopric of Sebaste; however, the care of his small diocese left him free to preach at Constantinople on such special occasions as the funerals of Theodosius’s wife and daughter. Under the unlearned Nectarius, the successor of Gregory of Nazianzus at Constantinople, Gregory of Nyssa was the leading orthodox theologian of the church in Asia Minor in the struggle against the Arians.</p><a class="link-module shadow-sm d-block qa-quiz-module" href="/quiz/christianity-quiz" data-link-module-iframe-link=""> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/67/160167-131-98582C51/Easter-Valladolid-Procession-cross-Nazarenos-Spain-Semana.jpg" alt="Holy week. Easter. Valladolid. Procession of Nazarenos carry a cross during the Semana Santa (Holy week before Easter) in Valladolid, Spain. Good Friday" class="rounded-sm mr-15" width="70" /> <div class="line-clamp clamp-5"> <div class="module-title bg-green">Britannica Quiz</div> <div class="font-weight-semi-bold mt-5">Christianity Quiz</div> </div> </a><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Gregory was primarily a scholar, whose chief contribution lay in his writings. Besides controversial replies to heretics, particularly the Arians—in which he formulated the doctrine of the <span id="ref110365"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Trinity-Christianity" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Trinity</a> (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) that emerged as a clear and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="cogent" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cogent" data-type="MW">cogent</a> answer to Arian questioning—he completed Basil’s <em>Hexaëmeron</em> (“Six Days”), sermons on the days of the Creation, with <em>The Creation of Man</em>, and he produced a classic outline of orthodox <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/theology" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">theology</a> in his <em><span id="ref110366"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Great-Catechesis" class="md-crosslink ">Great Catechesis</a></em> (or <em>Address on Religious Instruction</em>). The latter work is especially notable for developing systematically the place of the sacraments in the Christian view of restoration of the image of God in human nature—lost through sin in the fall of Adam. His brief treatise <em><span id="ref110367"></span>On Not Three Gods</em> relates the Cappadocian Fathers’ theology of three Persons in the Godhead (<em>i.e.,</em> the Trinity) to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Plato" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Plato</a>’s teachings of the One and the Many. As a <span id="ref110368"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christian-Platonism" class="md-crosslink ">Christian</a> Platonist, Gregory followed the great Alexandrian theologian <span id="ref110369"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Origen" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Origen</a>, though not slavishly. Most notably, he shared Origen’s <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="conviction" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conviction" data-type="MW">conviction</a> that humanity’s material nature is a result of the fall and also Origen’s hope for ultimate universal salvation. In imitation of Plato’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Phaedo-Greek-philosopher" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>Phaedo</em></a>, Gregory presented his teaching on <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/resurrection-religion" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">resurrection</a> in the form of a deathbed conversation with his sister, the abbess Macrina.</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Platonic and Christian inspiration combine in Gregory’s <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="ascetic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ascetic" data-type="MW">ascetic</a> and mystical writings, which have been influential in the devotional traditions of the Eastern <span id="ref110370"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Eastern-Orthodoxy" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Orthodox Church</a> and (indirectly) of the Western church. His <em>Life of Macrina</em> blends biography with instruction in the monastic life. <em>On Virginity</em> and other <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="treatises" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/treatises" data-type="MW">treatises</a> on the ascetic life are crowned by the mystical <em><span id="ref110371"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Life-of-Moses" class="md-crosslink ">Life of Moses</a></em>, which treats the 13th-century-<span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span> journey of the Hebrews from Egypt to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Mount-Sinai-mountain-Egypt" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Mount Sinai</a> as a pattern of the progress of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/soul-religion-and-philosophy" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">soul</a> through the temptations of the world to a vision of God. A notable emphasis of Gregory’s teaching is the principle that the spiritual life is not one of static perfection but of constant progress. His greatest achievement is his remarkably balanced synthesis of Hellenic (Greek) and Christian traditions, in an age when both were represented by vigorous and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="acute" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acute" data-type="MW">acute</a> minds.</p><div class="one-good-fact-module"> </div><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD6 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Gregory did not, however, neglect his practical and pastoral duties, as is attested by his preserved letters and sermons. Many of the latter were written in praise of the saints venerated in Cappadocia or to celebrate the great days of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/church-year" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">church year</a>. Others, such as Gregory’s attacks on usury and on the postponement of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/baptism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">baptism</a>, deal with <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="ethical" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethical" data-type="MW">ethical</a> problems of the church in his time. His more <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="intimate" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intimate" data-type="MW">intimate</a> discourses on the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lords-Prayer" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Lord’s Prayer</a> and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Beatitude-biblical-literature" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Beatitudes</a> (Matthew 5:3–12) combine ethical and devotional interests, as does his commentary on the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Song-of-Solomon" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Song of Solomon</a>. Gregory disliked attending gatherings of bishops but was periodically invited to preach at such occasions. His last public appearance was at a council at Constantinople. Gregory’s ecclesiastical career was less successful than those of Basil and Gregory of Nazianzus, but his work as scholar and writer was creative, and in the 20th century it was rescued from undeserved neglect.</p><span class="marker MOD6 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="md-signature"><a href="/contributor/Edward-R-Hardy/1231">Edward R. 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Saint Gregory of Nyssa | Biography, Works, Legacy, & Facts | Britannica