Gregory of Nyssa

Bishop of Nyssa

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Lived 335–395, aged 60Turkey

Turkey Religious Figures

Wikipedia
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Era
335–395
Aged 60

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

Fourth-century bishop who wrote the first recorded condemnation of slavery as inherently sinful — centuries before abolition became a mainstream idea anywhere on earth.

Biography

About

Born around 335, Gregory served as bishop of Nyssa from 372 to 376 and again from 378 until his death in 394. He lacked the administrative flair of his elder brother Basil of Caesarea or the influence of their friend Gregory of Nazianzus, but the three became known collectively as the Cappadocian Fathers. An erudite theologian influenced by Origen, Gregory made significant contributions to the doctrine of the Trinity and the Nicene Creed. Since the mid-twentieth century, academic interest in his works has surged, particularly around questions of universal salvation, challenging longstanding re…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Gregory of Nyssa

Gregory of Nyssa

saidundated

Evil will come to nought and will be completely destroyed.

— A Treatise on 1 Corinthians 15.28

Gregory of Nyssa

saidundated

As virtue is a thing that has no master, that is, is free, everything that is free will be united with virtue.

— Dialogue on the Soul and the Resurrection, Patrologia Graeca 46.101-105

Gregory of Nyssa

saidundated

Indeed, it was for this that intelligent beings came into existence; namely, that the riches of the Divine blessings should not lie idle.

— Dialogue on the Soul and the Resurrection

Gregory of Nyssa

saidundated

I got me slaves and slave-girls.' For what price, tell me? What did you find in existence worth as much as this human nature? What price did you put on rationality?

— Homilies on Ecclesiastes; Hall and Moriarty, trs., de Gruyter (New York, 1993) p. 74.

Gregory of Nyssa

saidundated

Every concept that comes from some comprehensible image, by an approximate understanding and by guessing at the Divine nature, constitutes an idol of God and does not proclaim God.

— The Life of Moses; translation, introd. and notes by Abraham J. Malherbe and Everett Ferguson ; pref. by John Meyendorff Page 96 (1978 ed).

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