Gregory of Nyssa and the Concept of Divine Persons LUCIAN TURCESCU OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Gregory of Nyssa and the Concept of Divine Persons Recent titles in AMERICAN ACADEMY OF RELIGION ACADEMY SERIES series editor Carole Myscofski, Illinois Wesleyan University A Publication Series of The American Academy of Religion and Oxford University Press GOD BLESS THE CHILD THAT’S GOT THE SPECTER OF SPECIESISM ITS OWN Buddhist and Christian Views of The Economic Rights Debate Animals Darryl M. Trimiew Paul Waldau ENERGIES OF THE SPIRIT INCARNATION AND PHYSICS Trinitarian Models in Eastern Orthodox Natural Science in the Theology of and Western Theology Thomas F. Torrance Duncan Reid Tapio Luoma THE GODDESS LAKSMI OF BORDERS AND MARGINS The Divine Consort in South Indian Hispanic Disciples in Texas, 1888–1945 Vaisnava Tradition Daisy L. Machado P. Pratap Kumar HSIEH LIANG-TSO AND THE CREATIVE DWELLING ANALECTS OF CONFUCIUS Empathy and Clarity in God and Self Humane Learning as a Religious Quest Lucinda A. Stark Huffaker Thomas W. Selover HOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS YVES CONGAR’S THEOLOGY OF THE Empathy and the Physician-Patient HOLY SPIRIT Relationship Elizabeth Teresa Groppe Dorothy M. Owens GREGORY OF NYSSA AND THE THE BONDS OF FREEDOM CONCEPT OF DIVINE PERSONS Feminist Theology and Christian Lucian Turcescu Realism Rebekah L. Miles Gregory of Nyssa and the Concept of Divine Persons lucian turcescu 1 2005 1 Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Sa˜o Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Copyright 䉷 2005 by The American Academy of Religion Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Turcescu, Lucian. Gregory of Nyssa and the concept of divine persons / Lucian Turcescu. p. cm.—(American Academy of Religion academy series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13 978-0-19-517425-0 ISBN 0-19-517425-9 1. Trinity—History of doctrines—Early church, ca. 30–600. 2. Gregory, of Nyssa, Saint, ca. 335–ca. 394. I. Title. II. Series. BT109.T87 2004 231'.044'092—dc22 2004005194 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper To Luc and Lavinia This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments This book owes a great deal to Paul Fedwick and John Rist of the University of Toronto, who codirected the doctoral dissertation that was the basis of this book. After my memorable, almost weekly, meetings with Paul over coffee and donuts at the Tim Hortons cof- fee shop at Bay and Bloor in Toronto, I always left with new ideas for the book. The numerous and very detailed letters John sent me from Cambridge or Tuscany have been a major help, especially with the philosophical sections of this book. I wish to thank both of them for their support and friendship. Many scholars who heard various parts of this book at confer- ences of the Canadian Society of Patristic Studies and the North American Patristic Society provided helpful input. There are too many names to mention, but in particular I would like to thank Pe- ter Widdicombe (McMaster University) and my colleague Margaret MacDonald (St. Francis Xavier University). Sarah Coakley (Harvard University) has taken a keen interest in my work on Gregory of Nyssa and has encouraged me to pursue it in every possible way. The encouragement I received from the American Academy of Religion series editor Kimberley Rae Connor (University of San Francisco) and Oxford University Press editor Cynthia Read has been very important to me, as were the comments I received from two anonymous reviewers. I would also like to thank my good friends Vivian Olender, Naomi Gold, and Daniel Rakus, who all proofread various drafts of chapters, as well as the editors from viii acknowledgments Oxford University Press who helped me to improve the quality of my writing. I also want to thank my research assistant, Sarah Gallant, for her help with the index. This book would not have been possible without the constant support, kindness, and love offered by my wife, Lavinia Stan (St. Francis Xavier Uni- versity), who not only read the many drafts of each chapter and provided valu- able input, but also listened patiently to my incessant perorations on the subject and put up with my procrastination. Her mother, Sabina, was also instrumental in inspiring and supporting me during my doctoral years. The completion of this book in a timely fashion was possible through the financial support of my university through a University Council of Research grant in 2001–2002 for which I wish to express my gratitude here. Foreword Basil of Caesarea (ca. 330–379) was never kind to his younger brother Gregory of Nyssa (ca. 335–395). During Basil’s negotiations with Western churches in the 370s, Gregory’s name was suggested to head the mission, and Basil strongly opposed it on the grounds that his younger brother lacked diplomatic skills. All the conflict seems to have started or at least got aggravated beyond repair when, in order to reconcile Basil to their feuding uncle, Gregory forged a letter from the latter extending an olive branch to Basil. When Basil excitedly accepted the gesture from his uncle he was more than dis- pleased when the uncle denied having taken any steps toward recon- ciliation. During Basil’s heavy involvement with the reform of the Eustathian type of asceticism, Gregory, who was married, was some- what paradoxically engaged in writing a book in praise of virginity. Despite Gregory’s polite and very highly encomiastic references to Basil, there was one incident for which Gregory, along with Gregory of Nazianzus, had reasons to resent Basil’s overbearing character: the forced ordination of both Gregorys as bishops to two non- existing sees (Nyssa and Sasima), in order to secure for Basil more influence after the province of Cappadocia was divided into two provinces. Soon after Basil’s death on 1 January 379, however, Gregory of Nyssa burst onto the scene, both as an active champion of orthodoxy and as an original thinker and very gifted writer. Without admitting it, he rewrote Basil’s work Against Eunomius of Cyzicus and the