St. Gregory of Nyssa
Acrylic and Gold Leaf on Wood Panel
7.25" x 10.25"

I would like to share with you one of the latest commissions - an icon of St. Gregory of Nyssa that shows the Saint in his typical clothing: black and while phelonion adorned with crosses, and the omophorion with large crosses. St Gregory is blessing with his right hand while the left hand is veiled and holding a closed Gospel. We already spoke of St Gregory's life in this earlier post for another icon. Now let us say a couple of things about his theology.

St Gregory is known in history as one of the most profound Christian Fathers of the fourth century. He was a fiery defender of Orthodoxy, a zealous teacher of his flock and a kind and compassionate father to his spiritual children. He was distinguished by his magnanimity, patience and love of peace. Endowed with philosophical talent, he saw philosophy as a means for a deeper penetration into the authentic meaning of divine revelation. (1)

Among his other works, St Gregory is celebrated for his doctrine of the Trinity. Gregory argues that we can distinguish between different members of the same nature by the fact that they have different shapes, sizes, and colors. Even if they are identical, they still occupy different points in space. But none of this is true of incorporeal beings like God. Even lesser spiritual beings can still be distinguished by their varying degrees of goodness, but this does not apply to God either. In fact, the only way to tell the three Persons apart is by their mutual relations — thus, the only difference between the Father and the Son is that the former is the Father of the latter, and the latter is the Son of the former. As Gregory puts it, it is impossible to think of one member of the Trinity without thinking of the others too: they are like a chain of three links, pulling each other along. (2)

"...And since on the one hand the Divine nature is apprehended by every conception as unchangeable and undivided, for these reasons we properly declare the Godhead to be one, and God to be one, and employ in the singular all other names which express Divine attributes," proclaims St. Gregory in his letter to Ablabius On "Not Three Gods" .