A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF S. GREGORY OF NYSSA. 7

reverence and faith, and denounces in the strongest terms the moral dangers to which all pilgrims, especially women, are exposed.

This letter is so condemnatory of what was a common and authorized practice of the medieval Church that 3 Divines of the Latin communion have endeavored, but in vain, to deny its authenticity.

The name and character of Gregory had now reached the Imperial Court, where Theodosius had lately succeeded to the Eastern Empire. As a proof of the esteem in which he was then held, it is said that in his recent journey to Babylon and the Holy Land, he traveled with carriages provided for him by the Emperor.

Still greater distinction awaited him. He was one of the hundred and fifty Bishops summoned by Theodosius to the second Ecumenical Council, that of Constantinople, A.D. 381. To the assembled Fathers he brought an 4 installment of his treatise against the Eunomian heresy, which he had written in defense of his brother Basil’s positions on the subject of the Trinity and the Incarnation. This he first read to his friend Gregory Nazianzen, Jerome, and others. Such was the influence he exercised in the Council that it is said—though this is very doubtful—that the explanatory clauses added to the Nicene Creed are due to him. It is certain, however, that he delivered the inaugural address, which is not extant; further, that he preached the funeral oration (which has been preserved) on the death of Meletius of Antioch, the first President of the Council, who died at Constantinople; and also that he preached at the enthronement of Gregory Nazianzen in the capital. This last oration has perished.

Shortly before the close of the Council, by a Constitution of the Emperor issued from Heraclea, Gregory was nominated as one of the Bishops who were to be regarded as the central authorities of Catholic Communion. In other words, the primacy of Rome or Alexandria in the East was to be replaced by that of other Sees, especially Constantinople. Helladius of Caesarea was to be Gregory’s colleague in his province. This connection led to a misunderstanding, though there is much uncertainty regarding its grounds. The account of it is entirely derived from Gregory himself in his Letter to Flavian and from his great namesake. Possibly there were faults on both sides.

We do not read of Gregory being at the Synod of A.D. 382, which followed the great Council of Constantinople, but we find him present at the Synod held the following year.

This same year we have proof of the continued esteem and favor shown him by the Imperial Court. He was chosen to pronounce the funeral oration on the infant Princess Pulcheria, and not long after, on the death of the Empress Flaccilla (or Placidia) herself. This last was a magnificent eulogy, though, according to Tillemont, it was even surpassed by that of Theodoret. This admirable and holy woman, a saint of the Eastern Church, fully warranted all the praise that could be bestowed upon her. If her husband, Theodosius, did not owe his conversion to Christianity to her example and influence, he certainly did his adherence to the true Faith. It is one of the subjects of Gregory’s praise of her that by her persuasion the Emperor refused to give an interview to the ‘rationalist of the fourth century,’ Eunomius.

Scarcely anything is known of the latter years of Gregory of Nyssa’s life. The last record we have of him is that he was present at a Synod of Constantinople in A.D. 394, convened by Rufinus, the powerful prefect of the East, under the presidency of Nectarius. The rival claims to the See of Bostra in Arabia had to be settled then; but perhaps the chief reason for summoning this assembly was to glorify the consecration of Rufinus’s new Church in the suburbs. It was there that Gregory delivered the sermon which was probably his last, wrongly entitled On his Ordination. His words, which heighten the effect of others then preached, are humbly compared to the blue circles painted on the new walls as a foil to the gilded dome above. “The whole breathes a calmer and more peaceful spirit; the deep sorrow over heretics who forfeit the blessings of the Spirit changes only here and there into the flashes of a short-lived indignation.” (J. Rupp.)

3 Notably Bellarmine: Gretser, the Jesuit, against the Calvinist Molino.
4 See Note 1 to the Introductory Letter to the Treatise.