GREGORY THAUMATURGUS ("the WonderWorker "): Bishop of Neocaesarea in Pontus and
an important ecclesiastical writer of the Eastern
Church; d. about 270. His name was originally
Theodore, and
he came of a prominent heathen
family in Neocaesarea, becoming acquainted with
Christianity only after his father's death, when he
was fourteen. With his brother Athenodorus, he
studied law in the famous school at Berytus, but on
a visit to Cæsarea he came under the spell of Origen, who had arrived there a short time before, and
became his enthusiastic disciple, first in philosophy
and then in theology. The oration in which he
expresses his gratitude to his teacher is valuable as
affording an insight into Origen's methods of teaching, and as the first attempt at a Christian autobiography. Returning to Neootesarea with the in-
tention of pursuing the legal career for which he
had been educated, Gregory was consecrated bishop
of his native city about 240 by Bishop Phsedimus
of Amasia. According to tradition, there were
then
only seventeen Christians in the town, and
Gregory is considered the founder of the Church
there. Of the marvels which were believed to have
accompanied his labors, there are three or, it
may be said four, accounts. These are the "Life
and Eulogy" by Gregory of Nyssa (MPG, xivi.);
Rufinus' account of the miracles
(Hist. eccl., vii.
25); and the Syrian "Narrative of the Glorious
Deeds of the Blessed Gregory," preserved in a
manuscript of the sixth century, besides the account
contained in Basil,
De Spiritu sancto, lxxiv.
The
differences seem to exclude the hypothesis of a
common written source, as the similarities make
for that of a common oral tradition. The personal
and local knowledge of Gregory of Nyssa makes his
version apparently the most trustworthy; but the
legendary element is strong in all of them. Greg
ory governed his diocese for thirty years, took part
in the first, and probably the second, council held
against Paul of Antioch, and, according to Suidas,
died in the reign of Aurelian, leaving, it is said,
only as many pagans in Neocaesarea as he had
found Christians.
A memorial of his work is found in his
Epistola
canonica,
on the regulation of church life in Pontus
after it bad been troubled by the invasion of the
Goths. Apparently, however, the demands of
practical life left him little time for literary activ
ity. His "Exposition of the Faith" was evidently
written to meet practical needs. A "Metaphmse
of Ecclesiastes" is attributed by some manuscripts
to Gregory Nazianzen, the most famous Eastern
bearer of the name; but Jerome
(De vir. ill., lxv.;
In Eccl.,
iv.) definitely ascribes it to Gregory Thau
maturgus. It is more difficult to decide the ques
tion of authorship in the case of two treatises
ascribed to him in their Syriac translation, "To
Theppompus on the Impossibility of God" and
"To Philagrius on Consubstantiality." The for
mer offers striking points of resemblance with the
undoubted works of Methodius, both in general
structure and in detail. The Greek original of the
latter
is found among the works of Gregory Nazi
anzen, and also of Gregory of Nyssa. The "To
Tatian on the Soul," a philosophical discussion of
the nature of the soul, found also in the Syriac,
is ascribed to Gregory in a passage of Nicholas
of Methone. The treatise commonly known as
Anathematismoi,
on the other hand, is certainly not
his, whether it belongs to Vitalis or, as is more
likely, is an anti-Apollinarian work of the latter
half of the fifth century. Caspari has proved the
Kata meros pistis
to be a work of Apollinaris; and
the complaint is made as early as 500 that such
works were interpolated among the genuine wri
tings of Gregory. Of the fragments found in the
Greek, Syriac, and Armenian catenae, some are gen
uine and some spurious.
(N. Bonwetsch.)
Bibliography:
Lists of literature are given in ANF, bib
liography, pp. 65-66; Fabricius-Harlee,
Bibliotheca G
riew,
vii. 249 sqq.,
Hamburg, 1801; KrGger,
History,
pp. 226
sqq.; P. Batiffol,
Anciennes lit6ratures chrétiennes, pp.
180-181, Paris, 1897.Editions of the Opera were pub-
lished in Latin, ed. F. Mons, Venice, 1574, Rome, 1594;
ed. G. Vossius, Mainz, 1804; in Greek, ed. F. Ducs'ue,
Paris, 1622; and in MPG, x. Works were published
separately, the Rpiatola
canonica, in
Routh, Reliquiae
wcras, iii. 251-283, 5 ,vols., Oxford, 1846-48; the
Meta
phrasia, Greek and Latin, by A. Schott, Antwerp, 1613;
the
Expositio
fidei, in Greek and English, in W. Cave,
Lives of the Primitive Fathers, ii. 267, London, 1683, ef.
C. P. Caspari, Alte and neue Quellen zur Geschichte des
Taufsymbols, pp. 10 sqq., Christiania, 1879; F. Kattenbusch, Daq apostolische Symbol, i. 338 sqq., Leipsic, 1894;
A. and G. L. Hahn, Bibliothek der Svmbole and Glaubensregdn, pp. 253 sqq., Breslau, 1897; a Syriac transl. of
one of his works is in A. S. Lewis, Studio Sinaitica, pp.
19 sqq., London, 1894; Eng. transl. of the works is in
ANF, vi. 7-74.
Consult: V. Ryssel, Gregor Thaumaturgue, sein Leben
und seine
Schriften, Leipsic,
1880; idem, in Theologische
Zeitschrift sue der Schweiz, 1894, pp. 228-254; F. W.
Farrar, Lives of
the
Fathers, i. 326-330, New York 1889;
J. Draseke, in JPT, vii (1881), 379 sqq., 724; E. Nestle,
Benpel als Gelehrter, pp. 21 sqq., Tübingen, 1893; 0.
Bardenhewer, Patrolagie, pp. 167 sqq., Freiburg, 1894;
F. X. Funk, in TQS, 1898, pp. 81 sqq.; P. Kotschau, in
ZWT, 1898, pp. 211 sqq.; Neander, Christian Church, i.
716-720; Schaff, Christian Church, ii. 796-800; Harnack,
Dogma, ii.-iv. passim; DCB, ii. 730-737; Krüger, History, pp. 226 sqq.; KL, v. 1184-88.
