Saint Gregory of Nazianzus (330–390), also known as Gregory the Theologian, was one of the three famous Cappadocian Fathers, along with Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa. Born in Nazianzus (thus the name), he taught on the nature of the Triune God with remarkable clarity.

As has been my practice with the Popular Patristics series, I read this book devotionally—it did not disappoint! Two elements in this book stood out.

First, Gregory was a master rhetorician whose preaching makes you want to stand up and cheer. Consider, for example, how to highlights the human and divine natures of Jesus:

As man he was baptized, but he absolved sins as God; he needed no purifying rites himself—his purpose was to hallow water. As a man he was put to the test, but as God he came through victorious—yes, bids us to be of good cheer, because he has conquered the world. (87)

This passage goes on for a full page, each line gripping the imagination. I’ll never think of Jesus’ baptism the same way again. When he was submerged by the Baptist, the waters were made holy!

The second thing that stood out was Gregory’s humility. In the final sections of the thirty-first oration, Gregory considers various metaphors people have used for the Trinity: source, spring, and river or sun, beam, and light. Those who have studied Christology know to cringe at the heretical views implicit in many of our cherished illustrations! Gregory chooses to do away with them.

So, in the end, I resolved that it was best to say “goodbye” to images and shadows, deceptive and utterly inadequate as they are to express the reality. I resolved to keep close to the more truly religious view and rest content with some few words, taking the Spirit as my guide and, in his company and in partnership with him, safeguarding to the end the genuine illumination I had received from him, as I strike out a path through this world. (143)

Now that’s theological advice worth following.

Gregory of Nazianzus. On God and Christ: The Five Theological Orations and Two Letters to Cledonius. St. Vladimir’s Seminary P, 2002. Popular Patristics Series 23.