St Gregory
One of the most original Christian thinkers
AN INVITATION
Becoming God’s friend
Our patron saint, Gregory of Nyssa was a pioneering 4th-century Christian thinker whose profound spiritual insights continue to inspire our community today. As a humanist, universalist, and mystic, Gregory offered innovative interpretations of Christian doctrine that delved into complex theological concepts.
St Gregory lived and worked in the ancient Roman province of Cappadocia, now part of modern-day Turkey. Gregory’s visionary writings have had a lasting impact on the church. His final work, The Life of Moses, is a powerful spiritual allegory that eloquently reflects the soul’s journey toward communion with the divine. This text concludes with a message we have chosen to prominently display above our altar: “The one thing truly worthwhile is becoming God’s friend.”
This transformative counsel captures Gregory’s core belief about the purpose of human existence – that our highest calling is to enter into deep friendship with the divine. It is this conviction that animates our community’s worship, as we seek to honor ancient Christian practices in ways that feel immediate and accessible in the 21st century.
“Gregory held that … All humanity shares God’s image, and shows it to the universe, so all people can move toward God together. That is what we are made for. Every aspect of human nature−our minds, our bodies, our virtues, our desires, our sexuality, even our mortality−God has made for this purpose.”
— Richard Fabian, St. Gregory’s Co-Founder
Icon by Mark Dukes. Rising behind the preachers’ chair at St Gregory’s is the marriage of Christ and the Soul icon, taken from Gregory’s commentary on the Song of Songs, a work underlying much classical Christian spiritual writing. The dark-skinned bride in scripture stands for every human being. Her mother-in-law extends loving arms to bless the marriage, while below, Gregory teaches the scene’s deeper meaning, and tells us that this loving mother-in-law represents God, who is not bound to either human gender. Behind these figures looms our church building with a canopy flying overhead: a traditional sign that this spiritual wedding, and indeed all these wonders, actually happen during our liturgy in our church. Like Moses, we turn aside here and see God in human flesh; ours is the soul Christ marries; we are the guests fed at his wedding banquet; we are the dancers linking with all humanity in God’s image; we are the baptizers and the people baptized for God’s mission; and one with the saints circling above, we are becoming God’s friends. —From Worship at St Gregory’s by Rick Fabian