Gregory of Nyssa as a hagiographer

Abstract

The younger brother of Basil the Great is primarily known for his clarifications on the Trinitarian dogma in the latter part of the 4th century, a century which had been plagued by a number of dissenting groups starting with the Arians and ending with the Pneumatomachians. He did, however, leave to posterity a number of works that deal with other themes – minor ones, of course, when compared to his complete oeuvre – but which give modern scholars a better idea of the length and breadth of this theologian’s contribution. One such minor theme is hagiography. The works on [Christian] Saints by Gregory of Nyssa that have survived fall into two different genres: the majority are homilies (two of which are extended panegyrics which he himself probably reedited at a later stage), and one is a biography written as a letter. The protagonists of these texts are a number of martyrs, two bishops and a nun. All, but for the latter, were homilies preached on the feast-days of these saints.