Gregory of Nazianzus Sebastian P. Brock Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute Syriaca.org: The Syriac Reference Portal Jean and Alexander Heard Library, Vanderbilt University The International Balzan Prize Foundation George A. Kiraz Sebastian P. Brock Aaron M. Butts Lucas Van Rompay Ute Possekel Daniel L. Schwartz David A. Michelson Data cleaning, editorial proofreading, and TEI editing by Ute S. Posssekel Data cleaning and initial valid TEI encoding by David Michelson XSLT transformations by Winona Salesky Data cleaning, editorial proofreading, TEI schema, and TEI encoding and editing by Daniel L. Schwartz Conversion to semantic XML by George A. Kiraz Electronic Edition Version 1.5 Published by Gorgias Press LLC, 954 River Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA www.gorgiaspress.com for Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute Published with the collaboration of Syriaca.org: The Syriac Reference Portal Published and hosted with the collaboration of the Jean and Alexander Heard Library, Vanderbilt University

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2016-09-22-16:00
Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition George A. Kiraz Sebastian P. Brock Aaron M. Butts Lucas Van Rompay Ute Possekel Daniel L. Schwartz David A. Michelson Data cleaning, editorial proofreading, and TEI editing by Ute S. Posssekel Data cleaning and initial valid TEI encoding by David Michelson XSLT transformations by Winona Salesky Data cleaning, editorial proofreading, TEI schema, and TEI encoding and editing by Daniel L. Schwartz Conversion to semantic XML by George A. Kiraz Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage Sebastian P. Brock Aaron M. Butts George A. Kiraz Lucas Van Rompay Piscataway, N.J. Gorgias Press for Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute 2011 Copyright ©2011 by Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute ISBN: 978-1-59333-714-8
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Gregory of Nazianzus https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Gregory-of-Nazianzus http://syriaca.org/bibl/244 235 http://syriaca.org/person/511 person Greek Church Father, and one of the three Cappadocian fathers, whose influential writings earned him the title ‘the theologian’. (330–390)

Greek Church Father, and one of the three Cappadocian Fathers, whose influential writings earned him the title ‘the theologian’. He was appointed bp. of Constantinople during the Council there in 381, but he resigned shortly afterwards. Many of his writings were translated into Syriac, sometimes in two versions. The most important are:

1. 47 Homilies, or ‘Orations’ ( CPG 3010, and Suppl.). There is an earlier version, preserved incomplete, and a thorough revision made by Pawla of Edessa , in 623/4 in Cyprus (whither he had fled from the Persian occupation of the eastern Byzantine provinces). Subsequent light revisions to this were made by Athanasios II and others. The following have been published so far (Greek numbering, the Syriac is different): Hom. 15, ‘On the Maccabees’, by R. L. Bensly and W. E. B. Barnes, The Fourth Book of Maccabees (1895), 55–73 (Pawla’s revision); Hom. 39 and 41, ‘On Epiphany and Pentecost’, by A. Malki, Die syr. Hs syrische Handschrift Berlin Sachau 220 (1984), 153–76, 258–82 (Pawla’s revision); and in the Louvain Corpus Nazianzenum: Hom. 40, ‘On Baptism’ (2001); Hom. 13, ‘On Eulalius’, and 41, ‘On Pentecost’ (2002); Hom. 27, ‘Against the Eunomians’, 38, ‘On the Nativity’, and 39, ‘On Epiphany’ (2005); Homs. 28–31, ‘Theological Orations’ (2007), all providing both versions (further volumes are in preparation). The mss. of the two versions are described by A. Van Roey and H.  Moors, in <abbr>OLP</abbr> 4 (1973), 121–33; 5 (1974), 79–126, and by A. Schmidt and M. Quaschning-Kirsch, in <abbr>LM</abbr> 113 (2000), 87–114. Pawla’s revision is always transmitted in two parts, 1–30 and 31–47. The Scholia (attached to the Homilies) explaining Gregory’s allusions to Greek mythology were edited, with ET, by S. P. Brock (1971), with both versions. Other scholia etc. were discussed by A. de Halleux, in <abbr>LM</abbr> 98 (1985), 103–47; 103 (1990), 67–90, and by A. Schmidt, in <abbr>LM</abbr> 111 (1998), 279–85. The Syriac revisions of the Homilies are mentioned by Timotheos I , in Letters 17, 22, 42, and 43.

2. Letters ( CPG 3032). According to Bar ʿEbroyo (‘Book of Directions’, VII.9) 31 Letters circulated in Syriac translation, out of a much larger number in Greek. Smaller collections survive in two mss. of the 8th/9th cent. (ms. London, Brit. Libr. Add. 17,209 and 14,544), representing two different translations (unpublished).

3. Poems. The names of three translators are known, Candidatus of Amid (17 poems, done in 665, according to ms. Vat. Syr. 96), Theodosios of Edessa , a monk of the Monastery of Qenneshre and brother of Patr. Dionysios , done in 802, according to Bar ʿEbroyo, Ecclesiastical History, vol. I, col. 363; and a certain Gabriel, mentioned in Timotheos I, Letter 24. Candidatus is also mentioned in a funerary inscription of his granddaughter Mariam, dated Sept. 760 (in the Vatican Museum, ed. Guidi, Actes, X Congrès des Orientalistes, vol. 3 [1896], 73–82). A large collection of poems survives in ms. Vat. Syr. 105, ed. P. J. Bollig (1895), and smaller groupings in three mss. in the British Library, ed. H. Gismondi (1896). It is unclear whether any of these can be allocated to either Candidatus or Theodosios.

4. There is also a Syr. Orth. Anaphora attributed to Gregory ( CPG 3097), ed. with LT, I. Hausherr, Anaphorae Syriacae I.2 (1940).

His commemoration is on 1 or 15 Jan.

Sources <abbr>CPG</abbr> 3010–3125. C. Crimi, ‘Fra tradizione diretta et tradizione indiretta: Note alla versione siriaca dei «Carmi» di Gregorio Nazianzeno’, in La diffusione dell’eredità classica nell’età tardoantica e medievale, vol. 1, ed. A. Valvo (1997), 83–93. A. de Halleux, ‘La version syriaque des discours de Grégoire de Nazianze . ’, in II Symposium Nazianzenum, ed. J. Mossay (1983), 75–111. J. T. McGuckin, <choice> <sic>St</sic> <corr>St.</corr> </choice> Gregory of Nazianzus: an intellectual biography (2001). (for the wider background)
Sebastian P. Brock