Our Holy Father Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople (390)
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1 Corinthians 12:7-11; John 10:9-16
Christ is born! Glorify Him!
The Lord left us His Apostles to continue His mission and to teach about all that He taught. The successors to the Apostles are our Bishops whom our Lord raises up to lead in His mission and also to continue teaching all that the Master taught. The Bishops are icons of He who is the Good Shepherd—he lays down his life for those sheep that the Lord gives him (in today’s terms, all those in an eparchy/diocese). He is to work tirelessly for the health and life (i.e., salvation) of the sheep, and to defend from enemies, even those enemies that may appear as sheep.
St. Gregory the Theologian, whom we commemorate today, was the Archbishop of Constantinople in the late fourth century. As deep as was his faith, meekness, and purity of character, despite his poor health all through his life, Gregory is perhaps best known for his numerous written theological masterpieces, and perhaps one in particular, On the Holy Trinity. In his writings, like the good shepherd keeping the wolf away from the sheep, he defends “against the heretic Macedonius, who erroneously taught that the Holy Spirit is a creation of God. He also wrote against Apollinarius, who erroneously taught that Christ did not have a human soul, but that His divinity was in lieu of His soul” (Prologue of Ohrid). Gregory knew in his mind and heart that Jesus our Lord was truly the Way, the Truth, and the Life and that everything we do must be done for Christ: “As a fish cannot swim without water, and as a bird cannot fly without air, so a Christian cannot advance a single step without Christ.”