Works of Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius of Alexandria, and Archelaus

seventeen Christians in the whole city when he first entered it as bishop, there were said to be only seventeen pagans in it at the time of his death. The date of his studies under Origen is fixed at about 234 A.D., and that of his ordination as bishop at about 240. About the year 250, his church was involved in the sufferings of the Decian persecution, on which occasion he fled into the wilderness, with the hope of preserving his life for his people, whom he also counseled to follow his example in that matter. His flock had much to endure, again, through the incursion of the northern barbarians about 260. He took part in the council that met at Antioch in 265 for the purpose of trying Paul of Samosata; and soon after that he died, perhaps about 270, if we can adopt the conjectural reading which gives the name Aurelian instead of Julian in the account left us by Suidas.

The surname Thaumaturgus, or Wonder-worker, at once reminds us of the marvelous that so largely connected itself with the historical in the ancient records of this man’s life. He was believed to have been gifted with a power of working miracles, which he was constantly exercising. He could move the largest stones by a word; he could heal the sick; the demons were subject to him and were exorcised by his command; he could set bounds to overflowing rivers; he could dry up mighty lakes; he could cast his cloak over a man and cause his death. Once, spending a night in a heathen temple, he banished its divinities by his simple presence, and by merely placing on the altar a piece of paper bearing the words, Gregory to Satan—enter, he could bring the presiding demons back to their shrine. One strange story told of him by Gregory of Nyssa is to the effect that, as Gregory was meditating on the great matter of the right way to worship the true God, suddenly two glorious personages made themselves manifest in his room, in one of whom he recognized the Apostle John, and in the other the Virgin. They had come, as the story goes, to solve the difficulties which were making him hesitate in accepting the bishopric. At Mary’s request, the evangelist gave him all the instruction in doctrine which he was seeking; and the sum of these supernatural