10 January 2008

Patristic Quote of the Day

(This was originally in a comment, but too good to leave there):

Synods and Conventions I salute from afar, since I have experienced that most of them (to speak moderately) are but sorry affairs. - Letter 124, St. Gregory of Nazianzus (no wonder Gerhard thought he was the greatest theologian of the Church, eh?)
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6 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:06 AM

    I am curious, where does Gerhard say this?

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  2. William Weedon11:13 AM

    In his wondrous work *An Explanation of the Suffering and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ* - Repristination Press, 1999. You can find it on page 3:

    "That's why *the foremost teacher of the Church*, Gregory of Nasianzus composed the sufferings of Christ into a tragedy which he entitled 'The Suffering Christ.'"

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  3. Anonymous12:29 PM

    Fr. Weedon,

    St. Gregory Nazianzus (this is not hte same person as Gregory the Theologian; Nazianzus is Theologian's father), however, was not saying (and I think you are implying this) that the ecumenical councils are not authoritative. Nazianzus only participated in a few local gatherings (which are not authoritative in of themselves) and I think he is just lamenting how unenvious it is to get caught up in arguments and disagreements about the Truth that it needs to be rectified.

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  4. Anonymous8:35 PM

    Fr. Weedon,

    Thank you for that quote. It is so true.

    Fr. Matthew Uttenreither, SSP

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  5. William Weedon10:33 PM

    No, Christopher, I wasn't implying that at all. I was simply enjoying his assessment of "Synods and Conventions." Think about what Lutherans go through at our "convention" when we gather as "Synod"!

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  6. 1235:08 PM

    St. Gregory was the bishop of Nazianzus before and after being Patriarch of Constantinople. Generally, he was referred to as Nazianzus by the Romans who never supported his transfer from Nazianzus to Constantinople - at that time, an ordination as bishop of a particular city was intended to be for life as a husband to a wife. The Easterners generally referred to him as being of Constantinople.

    That being said, Fr. John McGuckin of the Romanian Orthodox Church here in the US has a book on St. Gregory of Nazianzus - a great read if you can get a hold of it, though nothing like a hagiography of either St Gregory or St Basil.

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