Oration XVIII. Funeral Oration on His Father, in the Presence of S. Basil.

This Oration was delivered a.d. 374.  S. Gregory the elder died early in that year, according to the Greek Menæa on the 1st of January, though Clémencet and some others place his death a few months later.  His wife, S. Nonna, survived him, and was present to hear the Oration, as was also S. Basil, who desired to honour one who had consecrated him to the Episcopate.  The aged Saint, who died in his hundredth year, had originally belonged to a sect called Hypsistarii.  Our knowledge of the existence and tenets of this sect is due to this Oration1    Cf. Orat. viii. § 4, note.and to a few sentences in that of S. Greg. Nyssen. (c. Eunom. I. ed. 1615, p. 12), by whom they are called Hypsistians.  He was converted by the prayers, influence and example of his wife, S. Nonna, and, soon after his baptism, consecrated Bishop of Nazianzus.  He was eminent as an able administrator, a devout Christian, an orthodox teacher, a steadfast Confessor of the faith, a sympathetic Pastor, an affectionate father.  In his life and work he was seconded by his wife, and followed by his three children, Gregory, Gorgonia, and Cæsarius, whose names are all to be found upon the roll of the Saints.

ΛΟΓΟΣ ΙΗʹ. Ἐπιτάφιος εἰς τὸν πατέρα, παρόντος Βασιλείου.