When Gregory became bishop at Neocaesarea in Pontus, he found only seventeen Christians; at his death, only seventeen pagans remained in his episcopal see. In the later fourth century, Basil of Caesarea and his brother Gregory of Nyssa, two of the famous Cappadocian Fathers, mentioned this anecdote celebrating the triumphant expansion of Christianity in northern and eastern Asia Minor. But because their source was most likely their grandmother, who claimed to be repeating Gregory's “sayings,” the plausibility of the anecdote is immediately suspect. Its timelessness and symmetry are instead characteristic of oral traditions. As a result, most aspects of the life and the writings of Gregory of Neocaesarea are contested.
Francesco Celia's book is a meticulously comprehensive survey of both the ancient texts and the modern scholarship about Gregory. Even though his discussion still retains some of the characteristics of a dissertation, such as the lengthy summaries of the ancient texts and the tedious engagement with the smallest details of scholarly opinion, his chapters are impressive exemplars of the conscientious erudition that can become a sturdy foundation for subsequent studies.
The first part of Celia's book includes close readings of the ancient texts that mentioned Gregory—or rather, someone who might be identified as the bishop of Neocaesarea. In an extant panegyric, an anonymous orator described his religious enlightenment during his years of study with the famous theologian Origen at Caesarea in Palestine. In an extant letter, Origen encouraged a student named Gregory to use his familiarity with Greek culture in support of Christianity. The historian Eusebius of Caesarea mentioned a student of Origen named Theodorus, whom he identified with a bishop named Gregory in Pontus who attended an ecclesiastical council at Antioch in the later 260s. Even though the similarities and the connections suggest that these men can be conflated into a single student who grew up to become bishop of Neocaesarea, the myriad discrepancies encourage caution if not differentiation into two or even three distinct individuals. The problem of the identity of the historical Gregory is something like the ancient theological arguments over the singular substance and multiple persons of the Trinity. Celia concludes his surveys by accepting the traditional identification of both the panegyrist and the recipient of Origin's letter with the bishop in Pontus named Gregory.
The Life of Gregory “the Great” composed by Gregory of Nyssa poses more complications. Although Gregory of Nyssa claimed that Gregory had studied with Origen before returning to become bishop of Neocaesarea, many biographical details differed from the panegyric and Eusebius's account. Gregory of Nyssa also included stories about miracles performed by Gregory of Neocaesarea. In late antiquity, audiences were attracted to miracle stories, and some readers dubbed Gregory Thaumaturgus, the Wonderworker (41). In modern times, miracle stories seemingly undermine the value of a hagiographical Life as an historical source. Celia nevertheless supports a rather optimistic approach that “cautiously extracts” some reliable episodes from this Life (89).
The second part of Celia's book examines writings attributed to Gregory. The most important is the panegyric in honor of Origen, the master teacher of Greek philosophy and Christian theology. According to Celia, this oration “demonstrates the success of Origen's intention to make Christians able to manage the cultural equipment necessary for approaching pagans” (171). In his paraphrase of the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, Gregory followed Origen's lead by trying “to keep together his profane education and his religious beliefs while treating issues regarding the universe and human psychology” (214). Gregory's treatise addressed to Theopompus disputed “the theoretical obstacles that prevented Greek-educated men from accepting the passion of God” (221). This treatise again followed ideas from Origen's earlier refutation of a pagan critic. But because some of Origen's doctrines were subsequently disputed and finally condemned, later theologians could also question Gregory's doctrines.
In his Life, Gregory of Nyssa quoted a creed that he attributed to Gregory of Neocaesarea, and he furthermore asserted that an autograph copy of Gregory's creed was still preserved in the church of Neocaesarea. At the time, Gregory of Nyssa and his brother Basil were engaged in theological polemics, and they were trying to represent themselves as the best interpreters of the doctrines of Gregory of Neocaesarea. But for modern scholars, this question of the authenticity of Gregory's creed has become irresistible precisely because it affects our understanding of the continuity from a pre-Nicene theologian like Gregory of Neocaesarea to post-Nicene theologians like the Cappadocian Fathers. Although Celia's argument focuses on the historical circumstances of Basil's dispute, his conclusion is noncommittal about the theology. Celia argues that, while Gregory of Neocaesarea was responsible for some of the statements in the creed, Gregory of Nyssa himself composed the rest (306).
These are not the only writings that have been attributed to Gregory of Neocaesarea. He may also have written a treatise about the substance of the Trinity, whether undivided or threefold, and a seventh-century council acknowledged him as the author of a canonical epistle about pastoral responses to atrocities committed by raiders, who were probably Goths during the 250s. Almost all of the ancient texts about, by, and assigned to Gregory are available in the excellent translations of Michael Slusser, St. Gregory Thaumaturgus: Life and Works (Catholic University of America Press, 1998); Celia, in fact, often uses Slusser's translations. Celia's engaging book makes a strong case that Gregory's writings deserve more attention, and his critical summaries and extensive arguments are very helpful for trying to look behind the images of Gregory of Neocaesarea so carefully constructed by Eusebius, Basil of Caesarea, and, especially, Gregory of Nyssa.
