Feast of Saint Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa

On January 23, Orthodox believers celebrate the Day of Remembrance of St Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa The saint is revered as one of the Kapadaki fathers and great teachers of the church Gregory lived at the turn of the 4th-5th centuries and came from a worthy Christian family From early childhood he had before him the example of his elder brother, Bishop Basil the Great, and his elder sister, Saint Macrina Gregory did not manage to receive an excellent education like Vasily, and he was not very religious While the young man was studying at a pagan school in Caesarea, his family celebrated the feast of the Transfer of the Holy Relics of 40 Martyrs Gregory was supposed to attend the celebration, but did so without any desire He listened with annoyance to prayers and chants all night, and in the morning he hurried to leave and fall asleep in one of the gazebos In a dream, the young man saw himself wanting to enter the garden, but at the entrance there was a guard of warriors in shining light robes The guards did not allow Gregory to pass, threatening punishment, and only one of them stood up for the unfortunate man Since then, the future saint has taken up constant reading and study of Holy Scripture and Christian literature While Gregory does not yet see himself among the sacred brethren, he marries and becomes a teacher of rhetoric But soon, under the influence of his family, he went to the monastery founded by Basil the Great, and later was appointed bishop of the insignificant town of Nissa Despite his efforts in fulfilling his duties, the new bishop became a victim of intrigue, was accused of embezzling church money and was taken into custody Gregory managed to escape, he spends several years in wanderings and is restored to his rights only with the arrival of the new emperor Soon the Bishop of Nyssa had to leave his diocese on the occasion of the death of brother Vasily, and a little later of sister Macrina During his absence, Nyssa was infiltrated by the Arian heresy, which Gregory would have to fight upon his return He writes many theological works, attends church councils and defends the tenets of the true faith His works and activities are distinguished by honesty, intransigence and his own view of generally accepted things, as a result of which he was not in honor among the highest dignitaries Having visited the holy land, Gregory expressed doubt about the need for such an undertaking for a Christian and declared that a change of place cannot bring God closer And then at the Council in Constantinople he voiced his attitude towards pilgrimage Another speech by the saint about the Divinity of the Holy Spirit and the Son became significant After the death of Gregory, his ascetic work remained in the form of Christian philosophical literature, explaining many church postulates