Saint Gregory Nazianzen: Selected Poems

by Gregory of Nazianzus, John Anthony McGuckin (Translator)

In the final years of his life the fourth-century Greek theologian, Gregory Nazianzen, devoted himself to the writing of poetry. One of the most eloquent men of his age and friend of St Basil the Great and St Gregory of Nyssa, he is known as the Theologian because he used his rhetorical and literary gifts to defend and develop the tradition of the Church in the spirit of Nicene orthodoxy.
This selection of twenty poems'Like a window momentarily opened on a lost and distant world: such are the joys of reading Gregory's poetry,' says Dr McGuckin. This modern English translation remains close to the original text, yet sensitive to the 'rhythm' of Gregory's thought.

Professor John McGuckin, born in 1952, is an Orthodox priest serving at the St Gregory the Theologian Orthodox Chaplaincy in Manhattan. He is Ane Marie and Bent Emil Nielsen Professor in Late Antique and Byzantine Christian History at Union Theological Seminary in New York City and Professor of Byzantine Chrisian Studies at Columbia. After studies in London and gaining his doctorate from the University of Durham, he served in various academic posts in England, Ireland, Greece, Romania, Ukraine, Italy and the United States. He has written and published extensively on Patristics, New Testament interpretation, Byzantine history and Orthodox theology, including the book ‘St Gregory of Nazianzus: An Intellectual Biography’ (2000).

59 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 18, 2019

About the author

Gregory of Nazianzus (Greek: Γρηγόριος ὁ Ναζιανζηνός Grēgorios ho Nazianzēnos; c. 329–25 January 390), also known as Gregory the Theologian or Gregory Nazianzen, was a 4th-century Archbishop of Constantinople, and theologian. He is widely considered the most accomplished rhetorical stylist of the patristic age. As a classically trained orator and philosopher he infused Hellenism into the early church, establishing the paradigm of Byzantine theologians and church officials.

Gregory made a significant impact on the shape of Trinitarian theology among both Greek- and Latin-speaking theologians, and he is remembered as the "Trinitarian Theologian". Much of his theological work continues to influence modern theologians, especially in regard to the relationship among the three Persons of the Trinity. Along with the brothers Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa, he is known as one of the Cappadocian Fathers.

Gregory is a saint in both Eastern and Western Christianity. In the Roman Catholic Church he is numbered among the Doctors of the Church; in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches he is revered as one of the Three Holy Hierarchs, along with Basil the Great and John Chrysostom.

He is also one of only three men in the life of the Orthodox Church who have been officially designated "Theologian" by epithet, the other two being St. John the Theologian (the Evangelist), and St. Symeon the New Theologian.