By Bishop Grigorios of Mesaoria
Today, our Holy Church commemorates one of its greatest theologians, Bishop Gregory of Nyssa.
He was born in the Neocesarea of Pontus in 332 AD. and he was a brother of Saint Basil the Great. Educated, like his brother, he was first ordained a reader (ie a Scriptural interpreter) and later at the age of forty, he was ordained bishop of Nyssa of Cappadocia.
The followers of the Aresian sect accuse him of improper ordination and defrocked him, forcing him to wander and hide from the people. His adventure, however, ended and he returned to Nyssa, where he was triumphantly welcomed.
Saint Gregory attended the Synod of Antioch, which condemned the Apolinaris sect, which taught that Jesus Christ is not a perfect God nor a perfect man. He refuted the evil doctrines of Apolinaris, as he later also did at the Second Ecumenical Council in 381 AD. in Constantinople, routing the Pneumatomachi.
For his great contribution to the Orthodox Church, Gregory of Nyssa was rightly called “Father of Fathers”, while the Great Theodosius called him the pillar of Orthodoxy. He died peacefully in 394 AD, leaving us with many important works: interpretative, dogmatic, catechetical, ethical, festive, complimentary, epitaphs and a memorable speech to his brother Basil the Great.
Source: Church of Cyprus