Letter 197 To Gregory, consolatory
prelude 2: st gregory nazianzen Letter 197 To Gregory, consolatory25 The following letter was written to console Gregory of Nyssa on the death of Theosebia, his wife according to some commentators, his own sister and/or helpmate in the church of Nyssa according to others. From the close of the letter, it was written in Gregory Nazianzen's later years, therefore in the mid to late 380s. Daniélou would date it more precisely to 385.26
J. Danielou, in 'Le mariage de Grégoire de Nysse et la chronologie de sa vie', Revue des Études Augustiniennes 2 (1956), 71–8, argued enthusiastically that Gregory was married and that his wife was the Theosebia lamented here, and that she was only called his 'sister' metaphorically.27 Today, any a priori assumption that a priest and even bishop could not have continued to live with a wife except in celibacy, may be anachronistic even as late as the late 4th century. Accordingly, when Nazianzen tells Gregory that he knows 'better than anyone else things both divine and human', it means that he has united the experience of married life with a commitment to service of the Church—a good point. In Daniélou's reckoning, the identity of this Theosebia's 'illustrious siblings' remains a puzzle.
But there are serious reasons against the duplication of Theosebias, i.e, one who was Gregory's wife and another his sister.
In order to assess the identity of the Theosebia in this letter, it is necessary to take into account the data of Gregory Nazianzen's Epigram 161 in which he describes one of Emmelia's daughters as 'yolk-fellow of a priest'
(fler∞ow sÊzugow), and Epigram 164 in which he says: 'And you, Theosebia, child of noble Emmelia, and in truth yoke-fellow (sÊzuge) of great Gregory,28 lie here in holy soil, O support of pious women. At a seasonable age, you departed this life' (BiÒtou dÉ Àriow §xelÊyhw)'. That one of Emmelia's daughters is specified as a syzygos in both epigrams is a linguistic signature allowing us to identify her as the same person. She is: 1. Theosebia, Emmelia's daughter, 2. who is the 'yolk-fellow' 3. of an eminent Gregory, 4. who is a priest, 5. is one of the illustrious siblings extolled in Gregory Nazianzen's other epigrams, 6. died at a 'seasonable' age.
25 Mss.: YM, LA, PR, P, ILF, BJ, ed.: Gallay II, 88–89, tr.: NPNF 2nd ser. 7, 461–462.
26 J. Daniélou, 'Grégoire de Nysse à travers les Lettres de saint Basile et de saint
Grégoire de Nazianze, Vigiliae Christianae 19 (1965), 31–41 at 41.
27 These views were not new. Tillemont, Mémoires 9, Note ii, 732–733, is inclined to think Theosebia was Gregory's sister, but reports that Baronius thinks she was his wife, but is called 'sister' because they observed continence. He also mentions that Nicephorus acknowledged that Gregory had been married. The Benedictine editors, in the prefatory note to Nazianzen's Letter 197 (PG 37, Paris, 1862, 321–322), consider it an error to suppose that Theosebia was Gregory's wife. Footnote 54 reports that some have recently supposed that Theosebia was Gregory Nazianzen's wife, others want to have her joined to Gregory of Nyssa in matrimony.
28 Grhgor¤ou megãlou sÊzuge étrek°vw.
prelude 2: st gregory nazianzen
Now in the present letter we find a subject who is: 1. named Theosebia, 2. is a 'yolk-fellow', 3. of an eminent Gregory, 4. who is a priest; 5. is one of illustrious siblings; 6. died at a 'seasonable' age.
When the data of the epigrams and of the present letter are collated in this way, the conclusion is patent: the two sources are dealing with the same person. That the one author, Nazianzen, should be writing of two different Theosebias, in identical case on so many points, is really to require too much coincidence. The Theosebia of the present letter, therefore, is
Gregory's celibate, ascetic sister, who lived in close association with him at Nyssa. Living with a sister was one of the strictly limited forms of priestly cohabitation with a woman, apart from a wife, permitted by the canon law of the time; the woman had to be an immediate blood relative. Nazianzen's
Epigram 154 concerns a similar case: the priest George, beside whom lies the great Basilissa, 'his sister (kasignÆth) in flesh and spirit, sharing his tomb as she shared his life'.
In 197.2 Theosebia is explicitly called the younger Gregory's sister. That this is not simply metaphorical usage is clear from the remarks in 197.5 on spiritual and bodily kinship or belonging to the same family (sugg°neia).
The older Gregory is in effect saying: 'You may be able to call her "my Theosebia" because of bodily kinship, but I will also call her "my Theosebia" because of spiritual kinship, and that is the higher kinship'. The mention of her 'illustrious brothers' in both sources also tends to confirm Theosebia's identity, if among these can be reckoned Macrina, Basil, Naucratius, Gregory of Nyssa himself and Peter. Nazianzen's praise of Emmelia's fruitfulness in Epigram 162 has been cited in the introduction. His mind is further shown when he says of the parents in Oration on Basil 9: 'their greatest and most distinguishing feature, in my opinion, is the excellence of their children . . . That one or two should merit praise may be ascribed to nature, but eminence is found in all . . .'. It is the same author presenting the same thought in this letter. Gregory particularly notes Thosebia's timely death. She clearly died at just the 'right time', before the onset of old age. Nazianzen, who suffered so much from the diminishments of illness and age, commends this good fortune in both epigram and letter.
It is true that the term syzygos (lit. 'yolk-fellow', companion, associate) was commonly used, especially in the feminine form, as a synonym for 'spouse'. Yet it was also readily applied to those who share intimately in the same work, as St Paul used it in Phil 4.3. It had even been used of rivals in gladiatorial combats, scarcely an image of spouses. It is worth noting that the term used in epigram 161 for companion, i.e. sÊzugow, is the same used in the present letter, whereas the same epigram uses a slightly different term for 'spouse', ımÒzugow. While we can agree with Daniélou that Gregory was married, Theosebia was not his wife.29
29 For further discussion of Gregory's married state see the introduction, 'Was Gregory of Nyssa married?'
prelude 2: st gregory nazianzen The Benedictine editors (who considered that Theosebia was Gregory's sister),30 suggested she might have been a deaconess of the church of Nyssa.
From the description of her in Epigram 164 as 'the support of pious women', and here as 'the confidence of women', she certainly fulfilled a ministry to women in the local church of Nyssa. It is conceivable that she was the founder and presbytera of the 'choir of virgins' at Nyssa, described by Gregory in letter 6.10 and briefly alluded to in 18.5. In that case, one could well invoke a similar situation like that of St John Chrysostom tended in Constantinople by St Olympias, head of the choir of virgins near the cathedral and his mainstay in time of great distress.
When and why did Theosebia come to Nyssa? One likely scenario is that when Gregory was first recruited by Basil as bishop for Nyssa and had gone up to Annisa to visit Macrina for the second last time, she thought of assisting her brother by sending their younger sister, a consecrated virgin trained at Annisa, to accompany him. Gregory, newly won back to service of the Church by Basil and coached in the spiritual life by Macrina, was given Theosebia as a sort of spiritual chaperone, to help him as he matured in his new vocation. So in a sense Gregory was initially under Theosebia's spiritual 'protection' (as Macrina's proxy) while she lived as a dedicated virgin under his episcopal protection.
To Gregory, consolatory31 1. I had set out in all haste to go to you, and had reached as far as Euphemias,32 when the festival33 which you are celebrating there in honour of the holy martyrs checked me, both because I could not take part in it owing to my ill health, and because the untimeliness might inconvenience you. 2. I had set out partly to visit you after so long an interval, and partly to admire the steadfastness and philosophy with which you are philosophizing—for I had heard of it—at the departure of your holy and blessed sister.34 3. It befits the good and perfect man presented to God that you are (cf. Rom 12.1,
Eph 4.13), who know better than anyone else things both divine and human, 4. and who judge as a very light matter what to others
30 PG 35, 46–54, PG 37, 322 n. 54.
31 Grhgor¤ƒ paramuyhtikÆ P, BJ paramuyhtikÆ Grhgor¤ƒ BJ, Grhgor¤ƒ paramuyhtikÆ §p‹ gunaik¤ (. . . for his wife) L, t" aÈt" (to the same, i.e. Gregory bishop of Nyssa) PR, t" aÈt" paramuyhtikÆ (to the same, consolatory, i.e. Gregory of Nyssa) YM, Grhgor¤ƒ NÊsshw (to Gregory of Nyssa) Gallay.
32 m°xriw EÈfhmiãdow, 'Euphemiade' in Gallay; a place in the vicinity of Nazianzus, where Gregory's young cousin Euphemios was buried (Epigram 129).
33 ≤ sÊnodow aÈtoyi ≤n tele›te.
34 t∞w ég¤aw édelf∞w Ím«n ka‹ makar¤aw.
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would be most heavy: to have lived with such a one,35 and yet to have sent her on and laid her up in sure dwellings, like a sheaf from the threshing floor garnered in due season ( Job 5.26) to use the words of the divine Scripture—she who, having partaken of the joys of this life, escaped its sorrows through the measure of her lifespan; who before she had to mourn you, was herself honoured by you with that fair funeral which is due to those like her.
5. I also, believe me, long to depart (cf. Phil 1.23), if not as you do, for that would be to say much, yet scarcely less than you. But what we must feel before that law of God prevailing from of old, which has now taken my Theosebia—for I call her mine because she lived according to God and spiritual kinship is stronger than bodily36—Theosebia, the glory of the Church, the adornment of Christ, the advantage of our generation, the confidence of women;37
Theosebia, the fairest and most outstanding amid such a splendour of siblings;38 6. Theosebia, truly sacred, truly consort of a priest, and of equal honour and worthy of the great Mysteries;39 Theosebia, whom the age that is to come shall receive resting on immortal pillars, that is, on the souls of all who have known her now and of all who shall know her hereafter. 7. And do not wonder that I repeat her name again and again. For I take joy even in the memory of that blessed one. Let this, which is to say much in a few words, be her epitaph from us and my condolence for you, though you are yourself well able to console others in this way through your own philosophy in all things.
8. We are deprived of the meeting—which I greatly long for— for the reason I mentioned. But we pray with one another as long as we are upon the earth, until the common end to which we draw near no longer keeps us separated. Accordingly, we must bear all things, for we will not have long either to be pleased or afflicted.
35 tÚ toiaÊt˙ m¢n suz∞sai.
36 kreittvn ≤ pneumatikh: sugg°neia t∞w svmatik∞w.
37 tØn gunaik«n parrhs¤an, parrhesia was a term Gregory of Nyssa particularly applied to Macrina. It means liberty, daring freedom, confidence, ease of access to majesty.
38 tØn §n tosoÊtƒ kãllei t«n édelf«n eÈprepestãthn ka‹ diafanestãthn. The term édelf«n here, lit. 'brothers', is perfectly inclusive of sisters or brothers.
39 tØn ˆnt«w flerån ka‹ fler°vw sÊzugon ka‹ ımÒtimon ka‹ t«n megãlvn musthr¤vn éj¤an. For discussion on the word sÊzugow (literally 'yolked together') see prefatory note. The 'mysteries' refers to the Christian liturgy and sacraments.
SAINT GREGORY OF NYSSA: THE LETTERS