Gregory of Nyssa

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Gregory of Nyssa, 11th century mosaic

Gregory of Nyssa , also Gregorius or Gregorios (* around 335/340, † after 394) was a Christian bishop, saint and doctor of the church . He was a younger brother of Basil of Caesarea and a good friend of Gregory of Nazianzen . These three are known as the Cappadocian Fathers . They are particularly valued in the Orthodox Church . Gregory became bishop of Nyssa in 372 . He took part in the First Council of Constantinople and defended the Nicene Creed against the Arians . His doctrine of God represents the first climax of the merging of Christian and Platonic thought. Gregory is considered the greatest Christian-philosophical thinker of his time. He was also one of the great mystics.

Live and act

Gregory of Nyssa, fresco from the 14th century

Origin and youth

Gregor was born the second youngest son of ten children to a wealthy Cappadocian family who had been Christian for several generations. His date of birth is very likely between 335 and 340. At least from the maternal side, his family was also aristocratic. His father, Basil the Elder, was a rhetorician in Neocaesarea and died early. Little is known about Gregor's youth. He was ailing and was believed to have been home raised. He himself describes his oldest, highly educated brother Basilius as his master. His grandmother Makrina (the elder) and his mother Emmelia also influenced him, but especially his oldest sister, who was also called Makrina (the younger) . Gregor portrays her in On the Soul and the Resurrection in the role of teacher, as it were as the second Diotima . His sister became a pioneer in the development of female monasticism.

From lecturer to bishop

Gregor was a church lecturer in the early 360s . He became a rhetorician for a time and married Theosebia, with whom he had the son Kynegios. However, Gregor's family relationships are generally uncertain and controversial. According to his writings, he has dealt intensively with pagan philosophical education. But then he gave up his profession and temporarily withdrew into the solitude of monastic life. From 371/372 Gregory was bishop of Nyssa am Halys. His brother Basil had entrusted him with the newly created diocese. Gregor does not seem to have met his expectations. Gregory was accused in 375 by his Arian opponents of wasting church property. In 376 he was therefore deposed in absentia at a synod of the Pontic and Galatian Arian bishops at Nyssa. After the death of the pro-Arian emperor Valens , Gregory returned to Nyssa as a bishop. In 379 he attended the Synod of Antioch , in the same year Basil had died. After his death, Gregory continued the argument with the Arian Eunomius and further developed the doctrine of the Trinity. Gregory remained loyal to the theological approaches of his brother Basilius throughout his life. At the same time, however, he shows himself to be a remarkable thinker who independently justifies the thoughts of his brother rationally and develops them speculatively. Gregory defends the full divinity and humanity of Christ against Eunomius. Jesus Christ could not have an intermediate position between God and man. He possesses both divine and human nature perfectly. In 380 Gregory eluded the election of Bishop of Sebaste in Lesser Armenia by recommending his younger brother Peter there.

The First Council of Constantinople

In 381 AD at the second ecumenical synod of the Church, namely the First Council of Constantinople , Gregory of Nyssa was one of the most important synodals and a main defender of Orthodoxy. The chairman Meletios of Antioch died shortly after the negotiations began. Gregor von Nyssa was allowed to give the funeral speech. While Gregory of Nazianzen left early, the Bishop of Nyssa shaped the confession of the council. Together with others, he achieved in particular:

  • the return to the Niceneum ,
  • the doctrine of the one ousia in three hypostases as well
  • the recognition of the deity of the Holy Spirit . This is "starting from the father", "sovereignly commanding" and "life-creating".

With the First Council of Constantinople - at least for Greek Orthodox theology - the dogma of the Trinity including the doctrine of the Holy Spirit was finally formulated. The council appointed Gregory to one of several so-called "norm bishops". One had to agree with him theologically in order not to be condemned as a heretic .

Commitment to dogma

Gregory's position in the Greek-speaking Church was now unusually influential. In 381 Gregory traveled to the Roman province of Arabia on behalf of the council. On this trip he also visited Jerusalem and got involved in theological disputes. He was deeply touched by the visit to the holy places. At numerous other synods, he established the dogma of 381. He also took part in the 383 religious negotiations in Constantinople. That he was present at the synod of 383 is evidenced by his address De deitate filii et spiritus sancti . Gregory's wife Theosebia died in 385. He probably continued the marriage until her death, which at that time was still possible in the church even for a bishop. In 386 he gave the funeral speech to Princess Pulcheria and shortly afterwards to Empress Aelia Flaccilla . He was last mentioned in 394 in the acts of a synod in Constantinople. Nothing is known about the exact date of his death. Gregory's great literary works include the interpretations of Genesis, the Song of Songs, the inscriptions of the Psalms, the preacher Solomon, the Our Father and the Beatitudes. His work On the Soul and the Resurrection and the Antirrheticus against Apolinarius of Laodicea are also important. There is no reliable basis for an exact dating of all of Gregory's writings.

Teaching

Gregory of Nyssa

Gregory of Nyssa was very familiar with the philosophical and theological currents of his time. His educational heritage was not only learned, but a living possession that enabled a fruitful synthesis between the Christian heritage and the traditional philosophy. He had a great sensitivity for the philosophical and aesthetic values ​​of the Greek tradition. Gregory modified and corrected the Neoplatonic philosophy so that it could fit into his Christian faith. He almost never gives the sources he uses. He often processes the thoughts and metaphors he adopts in a new context. Due to his rhetorical talent, he is able to write in the biblical language, in the technical language of the Platonists or in his own way of expression that is not predefined by any models. His commentary on the Song of Songs was viewed as the metaphysics of Christian philosophy in the time of the Church Fathers .

Material and intelligible being

In the Platonic tradition, Gregor made a distinction between a material and an intelligible-immaterial being. The material being is characterized by temporality and the limits of categorical determination. It cannot come out of itself. It has its being within the naturally given limits. Each individual who remains within their own natural limits is only as long as they remain within their own limits. But when it steps outside of itself, it will also be outside of being. Evil is leaving the limits of being. When something falls away from being, it is also no longer in being. There is no such thing as badness in itself. Only the non-existence of the beautiful becomes bad. There is no real being in wickedness. What becomes in nothing - this is actually badness - is destroyed. Gregory explains the creation of the material world from the pure spirituality of God by the fact that he dissolves everything physical into spiritual, intelligible elements. The intelligible is to be understood as the limitless. Gregor distinguished between the uncreated and the created intelligible nature. In doing so, he metaphysically established a specifically Christian subdivision of everything that exists into the created and the uncreated. The uncreated nature possesses all perfections out of itself. It is perfection and goodness itself. It is unchangeable and unlimited. That is why it does not permit any stages of more or less or of sooner or later. The uncreated intelligible nature is what actually is in the sense of true being . It eludes all human knowledge, language and interpretation. It is above any addition and impervious to any diminution. It is always constant and true to itself. In an excellent sense it is the limitless as an actual infinite. In contrast, the being of the human soul is a created, intelligible being. This strives ceaselessly and eagerly to the divine, truly existing, limitless being. In this way the soul also has the character of limitlessness in a certain sense. Gregory rejected Origen's doctrine of the pre-existence of the soul . He also systematically rejected the idea of ​​a transmigration of souls. The soul is an immaterial, simple substance ( haplê kai asynthetos physis ). She is wholly in her body and is created with it at the same time. It penetrates the body and it is in it. At the resurrection, the soul reunites with its body.

Infinity of God

Gregory of Nyssa defended the incomprehensibility of God with unusual emphasis. For this purpose he used all known variations of the infinite. He has completely overcome the horror infiniti of classical Hellenism. With Gregory, infinity becomes the center of God's teaching. He was the first to relate the concept of the infinite in a central sense to the infinite reality of God. He then contrasts this concept with the created world. He broke through the consistent hierarchy of being developed by Neoplatonism. By recognizing the basic form of the idea of ​​God in the thought of the infinite, Gregory made an epoch-making contribution to the doctrine of God. Contrary to its Arian opponents, the basic form of the idea of ​​God is no longer to be sought in the concept of a first cause. The primary cause becomes a subordinate moment without, however, disappearing from the idea of ​​God. Infinity is infinite perfection. It is impenetrable for human thinking. The infinite resists the laws of reason and does not allow itself to be captured by it. Therefore, infinity establishes the incomprehensibility of God. The infinity of God leads to the fact that the movement of thinking runs into infinity when it makes God its goal. With that God is infinitely far away during every possible level of knowledge. Every knowledge gained becomes a starting point for an even greater realization.

trinity

Gregory participated in the development of the doctrine of the Trinity , based on the doctrine of God his brother Basilius and their mutual friend Gregory of Nazianzen. For the three Cappadocians, the factual basis of the knowledge of the Trinity lies in the paratactic revelation of the three names in the baptismal command ( Mt 28:19  EU ). Gregory emphasizes the essential unity of God. God is the unitary being who is represented in three persons, the hypostases:

  • Father as origin, for his part without origin and ungenerated;
  • Son begotten of the Father;
  • Holy Spirit , who emerged from the Father and is at the same time the Spirit of Christ.

The way in which the Son and the Holy Spirit are independent, beyond the terms “witnesses” and “coming forth”, is an unfathomable secret of faith that cannot be questioned any further. Gregory compares the Trinity with a flame shining in three lights. The cause of the third light is the first flame, which ignites the outermost one due to the distribution to the middle one. The Holy Spirit has the reason of its own existence from the original light. Nevertheless, he shines through the Son. By using this light metaphor, Gregor explains his doctrine of the emergence of the spirit through the son: the spirit has being from the father and is at the same time the spirit of the son. The second person, the Logos, is eternal life to which will and creativity belong. With the powers of reason ( sophoi te kai technikoi logoi ) God pervades everything. The creative and salvific work of the three persons cannot be thought of as separate from one another. The economic saving effects of God, his energeiai , are common to all three hypostases. The trinitarian distinction cannot therefore be read from them. According to Gregory, the word God denotes the one movement of divine action that comes from the Father through the Son and the Spirit to the creatures. Thus, figuratively speaking, Father, Son and Spirit form a single ray that hits the creatures. With Gregory, the Trinity proves to be a mediation between the pagan idea of ​​a multiplicity of gods and the Jewish belief in the unity of God. According to Gregory, Christianity dialectically combines both ideas, whereby it remains an impenetrable secret of faith, how the hypostases can differ from one another and yet the essential unity is preserved:

"Do you have the distinction in them? the hypostases], the unity of nature again does not allow the division, so that neither the power of sole rulership is split up by division into different deities, nor does our teaching coincide with the Jewish conception, but truth passes right through both views. [...] For as it were a remedy for those who err with regard to unity is the three number, for those who are fragmented into multitudes the doctrine of unity. "

- Gregory of Nyssa

Ascension to God

Gregor von Nyssa devoted himself in mystical contemplation to the one spiritual beauty that shimmers through its earthly images as the divine archetype of all beautiful things. He combined Plato's view of philosophy as a resemblance to God and the Christian view of man whom God created in his own image. Gregory's mysticism does not aim at a union, but at a resemblance to God ( homoiosis ). God be the infinite abundance of good. The true life of man consists in sharing in God and his goodness. Gregory interprets likeness and assimilation to God from the point of view of participation. The perfection of man consists in the constant progress of participation in God. At least in its fuller development, this participation essentially includes a happy communion with God. The progressive ascent path to God leads through three stages:

  • Cleansing , corresponds as a basic experience with Moses the burning bush ( Ex 3.2  EU );
  • Enlightenment , corresponds to the guidance in the desert through the light cloud or the pillar of fire ( Ex 13.21  EU );
  • Unification , corresponds to becoming one with God in the blinding darkness of the dense cloud on Mount Sinai ( Ex 24.16  EU ; Dtn 4.11  EU ).

The sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist are assigned to these three levels. Gregory described the mystical experience as ἀπόλαυσις ϑεοῡ, i.e. as enjoying God. In ecstasy the soul emerges from its own limits as a created being. It penetrates deeper and deeper into the divine being, but without ever reaching a definite end.

Works

Text-critical edition (completed except for volume 4.2)

  • Gregorii Nysseni Opera [ GNO for short ]. Ed. Werner Jaeger , et al. Berlin: Weidmann 1921–1925; Leiden: Brill, 1952ff.
    • 1: Contra Eunomium libri. Pars 1, Liber I et II (vulgo I et XII b). Ed. Werner Jaeger. Berlin 1921. Reprint Leiden 1960.
    • 2: Contra Eunomium libri. Pars 2, Liber III (vulgo III-XII); Refutatio confessiones eunomii (vulgo lib. II). Ed. Werner Jaeger. Berlin 1921. Reprint Leiden 1960.
    • 3.1: Opera dogmatica minora, Pars 1st Ed. Friedrich Müller . Leiden 1958.
    • 3.2: Opera dogmatica minora, Pars 2nd Ed. J. Kenneth Downing. Leiden 1958.
    • 3.3: Opera dogmatica minora, Pars 3: De anima et resurrectione . Ed. Andreas Spira . Post mortem editoris praefationem accurate composuit Ekkehardus Mühlenberg . Leiden 2014.
    • 3,4: Opera dogmatica minora, Pars 4: Oratio catechetica. Ed. Ekkehard Mühlenberg. Leiden 1996.
    • 3.5: Opera dogmatica minora, Pars 5: Epistula canonica. Ed. Ekkehard Mühlenberg. Leiden 2008.
    • 4.1: Opera exegetica in Genesim, Pars 1: In Hexaemeron. Ed. Hubert R. Drobner. Leiden 2009.
    • 4.2: Opera exegetica in Genesim, Pars 2: De hominis opificio. Ed. Hadwig horns. In preparation.
    • 5: In inscriptiones psalmorum. In sextum psalmum. In ecclesiasten homiliae. Ed. Jacobus McDonough. Leiden 1962. Reprinted Leiden 1986.
    • 6: In canticum canticorum. Ed. Hermann Langerbeck . Leiden 1960. Reprinted Leiden 1986.
    • 7.1: De vita Moysis. Ed. Herbert Musurillo. Leiden 1964.
    • 7.2: De oratione dominica. De beatitudinibus. Ed. Johannes F. Callahan. Leiden 1992.
    • 8.1: Opera ascetica. Ed. Werner Jaeger, Johannes P. Cavarnos, V. Woods Callahan. Leiden 1952. Reprinted Leiden 1963, Leiden 1986.
    • 8.2: epistulae. Ed. Giorgio Pasquali . Berlin 1925. Second edition, Leiden 1959.
    • 9: Sermones, Pars 1 . Ed. G. Heil et al. Leiden 1967.
    • 10.1: Sermones, Pars 2nd ed. A. van Heck, E. Gebhardt, Andreas Spira. Leiden 1961. Reprinted Leiden 1967, Leiden 1990.
    • 10.2: Sermones, Pars 3rd ed. Friedhelm Mann , Ernst Rhein, Günter Heil. Leiden 1996.
    • Supplement: Auctorum incertorum vulgo Basilii vel Gregorii Nysseni Sermones de creatione hominis. Sermo de paradiso. Ed. Hadwig horns . Leiden 1972.

Text-critical editions of individual works

  • Otto Lendle : Encomium in Sanctum Stephanum Protomartyrem. Greek Text, included u. ed. with apparatus criticus u. trans. v. (Hab.-Schr., Marburg), Leiden 1968.

Older collective edition (practically complete)

Collective translations

  • Saint Gregory of Nyssa's writings. Translated from the Greek, Library of the Church Fathers [ bkv for short ], 1st row, Volume 56, Kempten - Munich: J. Kösel - F. Pustet 1927. Contains: Eight homilies on the eight beatitudes, The Lord's Prayer, conversation with Makrina on Soul and Resurrection, Great Catechesis, biography of his sister Makrina

Individual issues (only partially with scientific claim)

  • About virginity (368) online in English
    De virginitate
    • Wilhelm Blum: About the essence of the Christian creed. About perfection. About the virginity , incorporated, trans. on note vers., Library of Greek Literature 7, Stuttgart: Hiersemann 1977
    • Michel Aubineau: Traité de la virginité , Introduction, texte critique, traduction, commentaire et index, Paris 1966
  • Not three gods (375) English online
  • About the Baptism of Christ (376) online
  • About Pilgrimages (379) online in English
  • About the soul and the resurrection (380) online
    • Catharine P. Roth: St. Gregory of Nyssa: The Soul and the Resurrection , Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press 1993
  • De hominis opificio - On the creation of man (380) English online engl. ( GNO 20)
  • About the Holy Trinity and the Divinity of the Holy Spirit (380) online
  • Eulogy about Meletius (381) english online engl.
  • Against Eunomius (382/383) English online , fr : Réfutation de la profession de foi d'Eunome , Jan Van Parys, Luc Fritz 2007
    • Jürgen-André Röder: Gregor von Nyssa, Contra Eunomium I, 1 - 146 , inserted, trans. u. commented, Frankfurt am Main: Lang 1993, ISBN 3-631-46077-5
    • Stuart G. Hall: engl. Translated by CE I, in: Lucas F. Mateo-Seco, J. Bastero (eds.): El Contra Eunomium I , Pamplona: Ediciones Universidad de Navarra, SA 1988
    • Stuart G. Hall: engl. Translated by CE II, in: Lenka Karfikova, Thomas Bohm, Scot Douglass, Johannes Zachhuber (eds.): Gregory of Nyssa, Contra Eunomium II. An English Version with Supporting Studies Proceedings of the 10th International Colloquium on Gregory of Nyssa, Olomouc , September 15-18, 2004, Vigiliae Christianae Supplement 82, Leiden: Brill, 2007, ISBN 90-04-15518-X
  • The great catechism (385) English online ( bkv )
    • Josef Barbel: The great catechetical speech , introduced, trans. u. Komm., Library of Greek Literature 1, Stuttgart: Hiersemann 1971
  • About the early death of infants (395) online engl.
  • Letters
    • Anna M. Silvas: Gregory of Nyssa: the letters : introduction, translation and commentary, Vigiliae christianae Supplements 83, Leiden [u. a.] Brill, 2007, ISBN 90-04-15290-3
    • Dörte Teske: Gregor von Nyssa: Letters , received, trans. und Erl., Library of Greek Literature 43, Stuttgart: Hiersemann 1997, ISBN 3-7772-9701-1
  • Song of Songs Commentary (In canticum canticorum) (GNO6)
    • Hans Urs von Balthasar : Gregor von Nyssa: The sealed source . Interpretation of the Song of Songs . In abbreviation u. a. by Hans Urs von Balthasar. 3rd, after d. critical output through Ed. Johannes-Verl., Einsiedeln 1984, ISBN 3-265-10283-1
    • Casimir McCambley, Archbishop Iakovos: Saint Gregory of Nyssa: Commentary on the Song of Songs , Library of Ecclesiastical and Historical Sources, Vol. 12. Brookline: Hellenic College Press 1987.
    • Dünzl: Homilien zum Hohenlied , 3 vols. Fontes Christiani 16.1–3, Freiburg 1994
  • De beatudinibus (orationes) ( GNO 7, 77-170)
    • Hubertus R. Drobner , Albert Viciano Gregory of Nyssa: Homilies on the Beatitudes , Leiden-Boston-Cologne: Brill 2000.
    • Hilda C. Graef: The Lord's Prayer. - The Beatitudes , translated and annotated, Ancient Christian Writers 18, TC Lawler, Saint Gregory Paulist Press 1954, ISBN 0-8091-0255-2
  • The life of Moses ( GNO 7/1)
    • M. Blum: The rise of Moses , Freiburg / Br. 1963
    • Abraham J. Malherbe, Everett Ferguson: Life of Moses , Classics of Western Spirituality , New York: Paulist Press 1978.
  • In Ecclesiast homiliae ( GNO 5)
    • Stuart G. Hall, Rachel Moriarty: Gregory of Nyssa: Homilies on Ecclesiastes , Proceedings of the Seventh International Colloquium on Gregory of Nyssam, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter 1993.
  • In inscriptiones psalmorum ( GNO 5, 24–175)
    • Ronald E. Heine: On the Inscriptions of the Psalms , Oxford: Clarendon Press 1995.
  • De oratione dominica orationes ( GNO 7, 5–75)
    • Hilda Graef : The Lord's Prayer. - The Beatitudes , translated and annotated, Ancient Christian Writers 18, TC Lawler, Saint Gregory Paulist Press 1954, ISBN 0-8091-0255-2
  • Vita sanctae Macrinae (also in bkv )
  • Apologia in Hexaemeron ( Eng. ) ( Fr )
    • Franz Xaver Risch: About the six-day work , incorporated., In Dt. trans. u. komm., Library of Greek Literature 49, Stuttgart: Hiersemann 1999

Historical editions

Other individual and selected translations

  • Friedrich Julius Winter: Gregor von Nyssa: selected speeches , 1895
  • Franz Weissengruber, ed. v. Severin Leidinger: St. Bishop Gregor von Nyssa , [a selection of works], St. Adalbero-Verl. d. Lambach Benedictine Abbey 1960
  • Jean Daniélou, Herbert Musurillo: From Glory to Glory : Texts from Gregory of Nyssa's Mystical Writings, Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press 1997.
  • Virginia W. Callahan: Saint Gregory of Nyssa: Ascetical Works , The Fathers of the Church, Vol. 58; Washington: Catholic University Press 1967.
  • William Moore, Henry A. Wilson: Select Writings and Letters of Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa , A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Row 2, Vol. 5, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans 1954. Today is one other order of books by Gegen Eunomius usual!

Memorial days

literature

Standard Bibliography

  • Margarete Altenburger / Friedhelm Mann: Bibliography on Gregor von Nyssa , Leiden 1988

dictionary

  • Lexicon Gregorianum . Edited by Friedhelm Mann. Published by the Gregor von Nyssa Research Center at the Westphalian Wilhelms University under the direction of Wolf-Dieter Hauschild (eight volumes and one volume of nomina propria ). Leiden, Boston, Cologne: Brill 1999ff. (not yet completed) Project descriptions of the research center: dictionary and noun propria

Selected literature

Web links

Commons : Gregor von Nyssa  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerhard May, Die Chronologie des Lebens und der Werke des Gregor von Nyssa , in: M. Harl (Ed.), Écriture et culture philosophique dans la pensée de Grégoire de Nysse, Leiden 1971, p. 52
  2. ↑ Cf. as a starting point for the discussion regarding Theosebia ep. 197.6 and regarding Kynegios ep. 13.3 and ep. 14.9
  3. ^ Basil ep. 58, ep. 60 and ep. 100
  4. ↑ See David L. Balás, Art. Gregor von Nyssa , in: Theologische Realenzyklopädie, Volume 14, de Gruyter, Berlin 1985, page 177
  5. ↑ Contra Eunomium III
  6. ^ Adversus Apolinarium
  7. ↑ Jean Bernardi, La predication of Pères Cappadociens , Paris 1968, p 315 to p 318
  8. ^ Adolf Martin Ritter, The Council of Constantinople and its Symbol , Göttingen 1965, p. 307
  9. ↑ Cod. Theod. XVI, 1.3
  10. ^ Gregory of Nyssa ep. 3, 1 to 4
  11. ↑ Jean Bernardi, La predication of Pères Cappadociens , Paris 1968, p 327-330
  12. ↑ Jean Bernardi, La predication of Pères Cappadociens , Paris 1968, p 318-323
  13. ↑ a b Werner Jaeger, The early Christianity and the Greek education , De Gruyter, Berlin 1963, p. 74.
  14. ↑ a b Ekkehard Mühlenberg, The Infinity of God with Gregor von Nyssa . Gregory's Critique of the Concept of God in Classical Metaphysics, 1966
  15. ↑ Werner Elert, The exit of the old church Christology , 1957, p. 45 f.
  16. ↑ Ekkehard Mühlenberg, The Infinity of God with Gregor von Nyssa. Gregory's Critique of the Concept of God in Classical Metaphysics , 1966, p. 26
  17. ↑ Wolfhart Pannenberg , Systematic Theology , Vol. 1, 1988, p. 427.
  18. ↑ Ekkehard Mühlenberg, The Infinity of God with Gregor von Nyssa. Gregory's Critique of the Concept of God in Classical Metaphysics , 1966, p. 19
  19. ↑ Ekkehard Mühlenberg, The Infinity of God with Gregor von Nyssa. Gregory's Critique of the Concept of God in Classical Metaphysics , 1966, p. 156.
  20. ↑ Wolfhart Pannenberg, Systematic Theologie , Vol. 1, 1988, p. 416 with reference to MPG 36, 149a
  21. ↑ Logos katechetikos ho megas
  22. ↑ David L. Balás, Art. Gregor von Nyssa , in: Theologische Realenzyklopädie, Volume 14, de Gruyter, Berlin 1985, page 178.
  23. ↑ On this in Canticum canticorum homiliae
  24. ↑ Even older issues in Alternburger / Mann 1988
personal data
SURNAME Gregory of Nyssa
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Christian bishop, saint and doctor of the church
DATE OF BIRTH at 335
DATE OF DEATH after 394