Gregory: Name Day and Patron Saint

St Gregory the Theologian was born around 329 at Arianzos, near Nazianzos in Cappadocia. His mother, St Nonna, had prayed for a son and promised to give him to the Lord, and his father, also named Gregory, became bishop of Nazianzos. He studied in Caesarea, Alexandria and Athens, where he and St Basil the Great grew so close that they seemed to be one soul in two bodies. Ordained a priest against his will, he longed all his life for quiet prayer. In 379 he came to Constantinople, where the Arians held the churches, and preached in a small chapel he named Anastasia, the Resurrection. He was mocked, stoned and even wounded, but his sermons on the Holy Trinity brought crowds back to the Orthodox faith. At the Second Ecumenical Council in 381 he was confirmed as archbishop; when bishops quarrelled over him, he stepped down for the sake of peace, comparing himself to the Prophet Jonah. He spent his last years near Nazianzos in prayer, writing letters and poems, and reposed in 389. For his teaching on the Trinity the Church calls him “the Theologian”, a title he shares with St John the Evangelist. The Church keeps his memory on 25 January (7 February on the Old Calendar), and honours him again with St Basil the Great and St John Chrysostom on the feast of the Three Hierarchs, 30 January (12 February on the Old Calendar). The faithful ask his prayers to stand firm in the true faith and for help in sorrow and temptation.

What the faithful pray for

• steadfastness in the Orthodox faith
• faithfulness and obedience to the Church
• the correction of our lives and true repentance
• help in need, sorrow and temptation
• patience, strength and peace
• the salvation of our souls