Saint Gregory of Nazianzus  St. Gregory of Nazianzus, detail of
a mosaic in the Palatine Chapel, Palermo, Italy, 12th
centuryAnderson—Alinari/Art Resource, New York  Saint Gregory of
Nazianzus,  (born c. 330, Arianzus, near Nazianzus, in
Cappadocia, Asia Minor [now in Turkey]—died c. 389, Arianzus;
Eastern feast day January 25 and 30; Western feast day January
2), 4th-century Church Father whose defense of the doctrine of
the Trinity (God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) made him one
of the greatest champions of orthodoxy against Arianism.
Gregory’s father, also named Gregory, was converted to the
Christian faith from the monotheistic sect known as the
Hypsistarii under the influence of his Christian wife. He was
soon afterward consecrated bishop of his native city, Nazianzus
(the exact location of which is not known; Cappadocia was in
eastern Anatolia), by bishops on their way to the Council of
Nicaea in 325. Born some years later, the younger Gregory thus
grew up in a Christian and clerical family. Neverth