a funeral oration on the venerable Meletius of Antioch, which has been preserved (Socr. H. E. iv. 26; Oratio in funere Magni Meletii, t. iii. pp. 587 seq.). Before the close of the council the emperor Theodosius issued a decree from Heraclea, July 30, 381, containing the names of the bishops who were to be regarded as centres of orthodox communion in their respective districts. Among these Gregory Nyssen appears, together with his metropolitan Helladius of Caesarea and Otreius of Melitene, for the diocese of Pontus (Cod. Theod. l. iii. de Fide Catholica, t. vi. p. 9; Socr. H. E. v. 8). Gregory, however, was not made for the delicate and difficult business of restoring the unity of the faith. He was more a student than a man of action. His simplicity was easily imposed upon. Open to flattery, he became the dupe of designing men. His colleague Helladius was in every way his inferior, and if Gregory took as little pains to conceal his sense of this in his personal intercourse as in his correspondence with Flavian, we cannot be surprised at the metropolitan's dignity being severely wounded. Helladius revenged himself by gross rudeness to Gregory. Having turned out of his way to pay his respects to his metropolitan, Gregory was kept standing at the door under the midday sun, and when at last admitted to Helladius's presence, his complimentary speeches were received with chilling silence. When he mildly remonstrated, Helladius broke into cutting reproaches, and rudely drove him from his presence (Ep. ad Flavian. t. iii. pp. 645 seq.). Gregory was present at the synod at Constantinople in 383, when he delivered his discourse on the Godhead of the Second and Third Persons of the Trinity (de Abraham, t. iii. pp. 464 seq.; cf. Tillem. Mém. ecclés. ix. p. 586, S. Grég. de Nysse, art. x.), and again at Constantinople in a.d. 385, when he pronounced the funeral oration over the little princess Pulcheria, and shortly afterwards over her mother the empress Flaccilla. Both orations are extant (t. iii. pp. 514 seq., 527 seq.). During these visits to Constantinople, Gregory obtained the friendship of Olympias, the celebrated deaconess and correspondent of Chrysostom, at whose instance he undertook an exposition of the Canticles, a portion of which, containing 15 homilies, he completed and sent her (in Cant. Cantic. t. i. pp. 468 seq.). Gregory was present at the synod at Constantinople a.d. 394, under the presidency of Nectarius, to decide between the claims of Bagadius and Agapius to the see of Bostra in Arabia (Labbe, Concil. ii. 1151). At the request of Nectarius Gregory delivered the homily bearing the erroneous title,de Ordinatione, which is evidently a production of his old age (t. ii. pp. 40 seq.). His architectural taste appears in this homily. It is probable that he did not long survive this synod. The date of his death. was perhaps a.d. 395.
Gregory Nyssen was a very copious writer, and the greater part of his recorded works have been preserved. They may be divided into five classes: (1) Exegetical; (2) Dogmatical; (3) Ascetic; (4) Funeral Orations and Panegyrical Discourses; (5) Letters.
(1) Exegetical.—What exegesis of Holy Scripture he has left is of no high value, his system of interpretation being almost entirely allegorical. To this class belong his works on the Creation, written chiefly to supplement and defend the great work of his brother Basil on the Hexaemeron. These include (i) περὶ τῆς ἑξαημέρου, dedicated to his youngest brother Peter, bp. of Sebaste. It is also called Apologeticus, as it contains a defence of the actions of Moses and of some points in Basil's work. (ii) A treatise on the creation of man, written as a supplement to Basil's treatise (vol. i. p. 45; Socr. H. E. iv. 26), the fundamental idea of which is the unity of the human race—that humanity before God is to be considered as one man. It is called by Suidas τεῦχος θαυμάσιον. (iii) Also two homilies on the same subject (Gen. i. 26), frequently appended to Basil's Hexaemeron, and erroneously assigned to him by Combefis and others. There is also a discourse (t. ii. pp. 22–34) on the meaning of the image and likeness of God in which man was created. (iv) A treatise on the Life of Moses as exhibiting a pattern of a perfect Christian life; dedicated to Caesarius. (v) Two books on the Superscriptions of the Psalms, in which he endeavours to shew that the five books of the Psalter are intended to lead men upward, as by five steps, to moral perfection. (vi) Eight homilies expository of Ecclesiastes, ending with c. vii. 13, "less forced, more useful, and more natural" (Dupin). (vii) Fifteen homilies on the Canticles, ending with c. vi. 9; dedicated to Olympias. (viii) Five homilies on the Lord's Prayer, "lectu dignissimae" (Fabric.). (ix) Eight homilies on the Beatitudes. (x) A discourse on 1 Cor. xv. 28, in which he combats the Arian perversion of the passage as to the subjection of the Son. (xi) A short treatise on the witch of Endor, Ἐγγαστρίμυθος, to prove that the apparition was a demon in the shape of Samuel; addressed to a bishop named Theodosius.
(2) Dogmatical.—These are deservedly regarded as among the most important patristic contributions towards a true view of the mystery of the Trinity, hardly, if at all, inferior to the writings of Basil. (i) Chief, both in size and importance, is his great work Against Eunomius, written after Basil's death, to refute the reply of Eunomius to Basil's attack upon his teaching, and to vindicate his brother from the calumnious charges of his adversary. (ii) Almost equally important are the replies to Apollinaris, especially the Antirrheticus adversus Apollinarem. These are not only valuable as giving the most weighty answer on the orthodox side to this heresy, but their numerous extracts from Apollinarian writings are really the chief sources of our acquaintance with those doctrines. The same subjects are treated with great accuracy of thought and spiritual insight in (iii) Sermo Catecheticus Magnus, a work in 40 chapters, containing a systematized course of theological teaching for catechists, proving, for the benefit of those who did not accept the authority of Holy Scripture, the harmony of the chief doctrines of the faith with the instincts of the human heart. This work contains passages asserting the annihilation of evil, the restitution of all things, and the final restoration of evil men and evil
