Saint Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, was a younger brother of Saint Basil the Great (January 1). His birth and upbringing came at a time when the Arian disputes were at their height. Having received an excellent education, he was at one time a teacher of rhetoric. In the year 372, he was consecrated by Saint Basil the Great as bishop of the city of Nyssa in Cappadocia.
Saint Gregory was an ardent advocate for Orthodoxy, and he fought against the Arian heresy with his brother Saint Basil. Gregory was persecuted by the Arians, by whom he was falsely accused of improper use of church property, and thereby deprived of his See and sent to Ancyra.
In the following year Saint Gregory was again deposed in absentia by a council of Arian bishops, but he continued to encourage his flock in Orthodoxy, wandering about from place to place. After the death of the emperor Valens (378), Saint Gregory was restored to his cathedra and was joyously received by his flock. His brother Saint Basil the Great died in 379.
Only with difficulty did Saint Gregory survive the loss of his brother and guide. He delivered a funeral oration for him, and completed Saint Basil’s study of the six days of Creation, the Hexaemeron. That same year Saint Gregory participated in the Council of Antioch against heretics who refused to recognize the perpetual virginity of the Mother of God. Others at the opposite extreme, who worshipped the Mother of God as being God Herself, were also denounced by the Council. He visited the churches of Arabia and Palestine, which were infected with the Arian heresy, to assert the Orthodox teaching about the Most Holy Theotokos. On his return journey Saint Gregory visited Jerusalem and the Holy Places.
In the year 381 Saint Gregory was one of the chief figures of the Second Ecumenical Council, convened at Constantinople against the heresy of Macedonius, who incorrectly taught about the Holy Spirit. At this Council, on the initiative of Saint Gregory, the Nicean Symbol of Faith (the Creed) was completed.
Together with the other bishops Saint Gregory affirmed Saint Gregory the Theologian as Archpastor of Constantinople.
In the year 383, Saint Gregory of Nyssa participated in a Council at Constantinople, where he preached a sermon on the divinity of the Son and the Holy Spirit. In 386, he was again at Constantinople, and he was asked to speak the funeral oration in memory of the empress Placilla. Again in 394 Saint Gregory was present in Constantinople at a local Council, convened to resolve church matters in Arabia.
Saint Gregory of Nyssa was a fiery defender of Orthodox dogmas and a zealous teacher of his flock, a kind and compassionate father to his spiritual children, and their intercessor before the courts. He was distinguished by his magnanimity, patience and love of peace.
Having reached old age, Saint Gregory of Nyssa died soon after the Council of Constantinople. Together with his great contemporaries, Saints Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian, Saint Gregory of Nyssa had a significant influence on the Church life of his time. His sister, Saint Macrina, wrote to him: “You are renowned both in the cities, and gatherings of people, and throughout entire districts. Churches ask you for help.” Saint Gregory is known in history as one of the most profound Christian thinkers of the fourth century. Endowed with philosophical talent, he saw philosophy as a means for a deeper penetration into the authentic meaning of divine revelation.
Saint Gregory left behind many remarkable works of dogmatic character, as well as sermons and discourses. He has been called “the Father of Fathers.”
“Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit”(Galatians 5:19-25).
Apostle Paul makes it so clear for us as believers, to know if we are walking in the Spirit or in the flesh. He gives us the list of virtues by which we can recognize the acts of the flesh in us verses the acts of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is the outward, visible and godly virtues displayed in a believer’s life, that evidences the inward, invisible presence of the Holy Spirit. These virtues or characteristics stand in stark contrast to the fruits, or acts, of the flesh. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies. St. Paul after listing the flesh acts and before listing the Spirit acts, he warns us that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Then he listed the fruit of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Then he continues to tell us the way to get rid of these fleshly acts and that by crucifying the flesh with its passions and desires.
“When someone steals another’s clothes, we call them a thief. Should we not give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not? The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry; the coat unused in your closet belongs to the one who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the one who has no shoes; the money which you hoard up belongs to the poor.”
On the contrary, the Lord Jesus Christ loves sinners. He is the Good Shepherd who came to give us His life “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” (John 10:10-11). He came to save the lost “For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost” (Mathew 18-12). He left the ninety-nine in the wilderness and went searching for the lost, and when He finds him there will be great joy in heaven more than the ninety-nine who do not need repentance “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” (Mathew 18:12-14).
God does not hear you, not because you are a sinner, but because you do not have any relationship with Him. You are the one who does not talk to Him. You are rejecting His ways and doubting them. You see that your ways and the world’s wisdom and ways are more logical and profitable. So, the problem lies in the barriers and restrictions that Satan, society, and the wrong legacies have placed between you and Him. Because of all these barriers, you cannot know Him, communicate with Him, or hear His voice. Therefore, you must start from the correct starting point, which is the knowledge of Him. First, read the gospel and know who God is, your creator, who created you in His image and likeness. He sent His only begotten Son, took a flesh, our flesh, to conquer our enemy, Satan, who came to steal, kill, and destroy “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” (John 10:10). Start communicating with Him, accept Him as your savior and receive Him in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will start His work in you, cleansing and sanctifying you gradually. The enlightenment of the Holy Spirit will discern all the sins working in you, and you will start the repentance process. Confessing sin and resisting all the evil desires and lusts of the world will lead to communicating and building a relationship with Him. You will receive His comfort, His peace, and His love in you. The last step is surrendering your life and submitting your free will to Him. Jesus said if we asked Him for anything with faith according to His will, He would do it for us “And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” (Mathew 21:22)
Light & Life of the Gospel
The Origin of Love and Its True Image
The relationship between God the Father and man, whether before his creation or after his creation, was based on God’s special and sincere love to him. And that He loved him with the same love for His Son Jesus Christ. God the Father called us out of nowhere to exist because of His love to us. He loved us just as much as He loved His Son Jesus Christ. Therefore, the loving relationship between us and God the Father must reach the image and likeness of love between the Father and His Son Jesus. I must love Him as Jesus loved Him. To have a relationship with God means to enter into this circle of love.
The Heavenly Father expresses His love for us with an abundance of endless giving, and we express our love for Him in complete submission to His will, like Jesus. We cannot enter into unity with God except with love. To be submissive to God’s will means to be united by His will. Just as Christ does nothing of Himself except what the Father wills, so too should we. We must say like David “I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart.”
When I unite with my Heavenly Father and focus on His will, I find that He loves my brother, so I choose to love my brother as He loves him and loves me. I find that He forgives my brother, so I submit to Him and forgive my brother as He forgives me. I see Him loving my brother and giving His only begotten Son to save him, so I also strive for my brother’s salvation. And this is the real meaning of the church, a body that has many organs all united by the head, Jesus Christ.
On the contrary, the fake love that Satan made is the self-love and selfishness. It is the love of consumption. The love of the world and its desires does separate us from the true love, the love of God. And that is why the Gospel says, “friendship with the world is enmity with God?”, why? Because it separates us from the essence of the true love, which is the love of giving, submission, and unity with God.
Do you know that love is the first and greatest commandment in the Gospel “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27). Also, Christ’s commandment to us is that we love one another as He has loved us. (John15:12.) Love is the essence of the Gospel.
So, sisters and brothers we must submit to God’s will because it is light and life. We have to obey Christ’s commandment so that He may dwell in us and pour out His Holy Spirit, to free us from ourselves and our selfishness and open us to receive His eternal life and His glory. Amen
I appeal to you, Lord, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, and Israel, You the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Infinitely merciful as You are, it is Your will that we should learn to know You. You made heaven and earth, You rule supreme over all that is. You are the true, the only God; there is no other God above You.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ…and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, grant that all who read what I have written here may know You, because You alone are God; let them draw strength from You; keep them from all teaching that is heretical, irreligious, or godless. Amen
“...the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.”
St. Paul is praying to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, asking Him to give us:
First: The Spirit of Wisdom
Second: The Revelation in the knowledge of Him
Third: The eyes of our understanding to be enlightened
WHY?
In order for us that we may:
FIRST: know what is the hope of His calling
SECOND: know what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints
THIRD: know what is the exceeding greatness of His power towards us who believed
And all this is according to:
God’s working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ (when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him on His right hand in the heavenly places).
This mighty power of God the Father is FAR ABOVE ALL:
1- Principality
2- Power
3- Might
4- Dominion
5- Above every name that is named
(not only in this age but also in that which is to come).
