The Poetry of Gregory of Nazianzus

"Prof. Damian, a renowned poet and faithful Orthodox priest, does us a great service in this book by explicitly portraying St. Gregory’s life story and poetics. He is well qualified as poet and theologian to stand as an interpreter of the great poet-theologian, simply known as “The Theologian” in the fourth century. The life of The Theologian was bound up with monumental events in the history of fourth-century Christianity, and he strove hard at that time dealing with Christology, salvation history and trinitarianism. In addition to being a statesman rhetorician, he was also one the greatest poets of that period in Greek literature dubbed as Second Sophistic. Gregory, as a Christian thinker, embraced the poetics of poetic holy inspiration and declaration of universal truths. He held that the Spirit of God comes through the most subtle refinement of the human heart and soul. The moving of the Spirit makes the poet begin in an ethical conversion and culminate in a quietly reflective and ascetical attitude to life."