When discussing the great Church Fathers, names like the three Cappadocian Fathers (Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus) come to mind, as do John Chrysostom, and Augustine. However, in most cases, we truly have forgotten their mothers: Emmelia, the mother of Gregory of Nyssa; Nonna, the mother of Gregory of Nazianzus; Anthusa, the mother of John Chrysostom; and Monica, the mother of Augustine. It is to this lost tradition that we now turn our attention.
Nonna: Stirring Up the Gift of God
The two brothers, Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa, along with their close friend and fellow theologian, Gregory of Nazianzus, are the principal formulators of the classic doctrine of the Trinity. Gregory of Nazianzus was the son of Gregory and Nonna. He became the Bishop of Constantinople and a preacher of orthodoxy who wrote extensively on both theological and devotional topics. After the victory of Nicene Orthodoxy at the Council of Constantinople I in 381, Gregory of Nazianzus retired as a bishop and led a monastic life.
Long before he became famous, his lesser-known mother guided his spiritual life and that of his father. Nonna was born around 300 AD and passed away on August 5, 374 AD. Gregory described in glowing terms her holiness of life and the beautiful conformity of her actions to the highest standards of Christian excellence.
To her example, aided by her prayers, he ascribed the conversion of his father from a strange medley of paganism and a heretical Christian sect. Unwilling to accept his status as an unbeliever, Nonna “fell before God night and day, entreating for the salvation of her head with many fastings and tears, and assiduously devoting herself to her husband, and influencing him in many ways, by means of reproaches, admonitions, attentions, estrangements, and above all by her own character with its fervour for piety, by which the soul is specially prevailed upon and softened, and willingly submits to virtuous pressure.”[i]
Strong Medicine
When so many Christian wives today struggle with how to relate to a beloved unbelieving husband, Nonna’s example provides hope and direction. She certainly was no “wallflower.” Her method of reconciling combined the strong medicine of reproaches and admonitions with continual doses of character and piety. We see in her example the power of persistent prayer and the plan of God to combine prayer and action in all our reconciling relationships.
Her ministry to her newly saved husband did not end at reconciling. Gregory went so far as to attribute his father’s spirituality and ministry success to Nonna. “But she who was given by God to my father became not only, as is less wonderful, his assistant, but even his leader, drawing him on by her influence in deed and word to the highest excellence; judging it best in all other respects to be overruled by her husband according to the law of marriage, but not being ashamed, in regard to piety, even to offer herself as his teacher.”[ii]
Shepherding the Shepherd
Her spiritual guidance was so extensive and intensive that when Gregory the Elder became a bishop, he learned how to shepherd from her example. At his sister’s funeral, Gregory of Nazianzus said of his father and mother, “This good shepherd was the result of his wife’s prayers and guidance, and it was from her that he learned his ideal of a good shepherd’s life.”[iii] Here we have a Christian wife guiding her husband. More than that, we find a wife teaching her husband how to shepherd. In Church history, women have not taken a back seat to anyone in providing reconciling and guiding.
Nonna’s ministry did not stop with her husband, but continued with her son. Like Hannah with Samuel (1 Samuel 1:1-28), Nonna committed her son to the Lord and His service even before Gregory’s birth. Reflecting on it years later, Gregory noted about his mother, “That which concerns myself is perhaps undeserving of mention, since I have proved unworthy of the hope cherished in regard to me: yet it was on her part a great undertaking to promise me to God before my birth, with no fear of the future, and to dedicate me immediately after I was born. Through God’s goodness has it been that she has not utterly failed in her prayer, and that the auspicious sacrifice was not rejected.”[iv]
What enabled Nonna to maintain such a relentless prayer life? “These were the objects of her prayers and hopes, in the fervour of faith rather than of youth. Indeed, none was as confident of things present as she of things hoped for, from her experience of the generosity of God.”[v] Nonna believed in a good God with a good heart. She knew that her God was a generous rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). In the ebb and flow of soul care and spiritual direction, Nonna embodied the truth that it is our certainty about God’s generosity that leads to our capacity to minister steadfastly.
[i]Gregory of Nazianzus, Catholic Encyclopedia, “Funeral Oration on His Father,” oration 18, paragraph 11, emphasis added.
[ii]Gregory of Nazianzus, Catholic Encyclopedia, “Funeral Oration on His Sister Gorgonia,” oration 8, paragraph 11, emphasis added.
[iii]Ibid., oration 8, paragraph 5.
[iv]Gregory of Nazianzus, Catholic Encyclopedia, “Funeral Oration on His Father,” oration 18, paragraph 11.
[v]Ibid., paragraph 12.
