12 
GREG 
poor. He was the author of Epijlola ad Regem Perfarum 
Schak Abbas, cum Notts Hegalfoni, 1627, 8vo. and The De- 
cifions of the Rota. He was a great friend to the Je- 
fuits, and canonifed Ignatius their founder, Francis 
Xavier, and others; and by him the fee of Paris was 
withdrawn from fubjeCtion to that of Sens, and confti- 
tuted an archbifhoprjc. 
GREG'ORY of Neo'-Cjesarea, ufually ftyled faint, 
and furnamed Thaumaturgus , or Wonder-worker, from 
the miracles which it was pretended he'had performed, 
flourifhed in the third century. Fie was defcended from 
Gentile parents, eminent for their birth and fortune, 
and born at Neo-Cmfarea, in Pontus. His original name, 
before his converfion and baptifm, was Theodoras. His 
father, who was a zealot for paganifm, took care to , 
have him educated in his own religious principles, at 
the fame time that he was initiated in the elements of 
iifefu'l and ornamental learning. For five>years, at lead, 
Gregory and his brother were the difciples of Origeii, 
who inftruCted them in logic, phylics, geometry, agro¬ 
nomy, and ethics. He encouraged them, likewife, in 
reading all forts of ancient authors, poets, and philofo- 
phers, retraining them from none but fuch as denied a 
Deity or a Providence ; and during this period he made 
them firm converts to the Chriftiarv faith, introducing 
them to an intimate acquaintance with the facred Scrip¬ 
tures, and explaining to them obfeure and difficult paf- 
fages. He was prefent at the firft council of Antioch 
in 264, when the cafe of Paul of Samofata was the fub. 
jeCt of enquiry ; and concurred with Firmilian, and the 
other leading members, in preventing any harili mea- 
fures from being adopted againft him. It is mod pro¬ 
bable that he did not long furvive the meeting of this 
council ; and that he died in the year 265. The only 
works of his extant, which may be pronounced unques¬ 
tionably genuine, are, his Panegyrical Oration in Praife 
of Origen ; A Paraphrafe on the Book of Ecclefiades ; 
and, A Canonical Epiftle, confiding of eleven canons, 
of which the lad is rejected by the abled critics as fpu- 
rious. Tlie pieces above-mentioned have been fepa- 
rately printed, in Greek and Latin, at diderent periods, 
and al(o collectively in one volume folio, at Paris, in 
1626. Gerard Vodius alfo publidied an edition of them 
at Mentz, in 1604, in quarto. 
GREG'ORY (Nazianzen, faint),^ flourifhed in the 
fourth century, being born at a village near Nazianzum, 
in Cappadocia, in 324. He was firft placed at Caefarea 
in Cappadocia, whence he afterwards removed to Cas- 
farea in Paledine, where he dudied under forne of the 
mod celebrated matters of that age. After a life fpent 
in various religious controverfies, and in travelling for 
the acquifition of knowledge and improvement, on his 
return to his native country he was ftrOngly importuned 
to undertake the charge of the fee of Nazianzum, 
which had continued vacant from the time of his fa¬ 
ther’s death ; but no entreaties could prevail upon him 
to quit his patrimonial edate near Nazianzum, where he 
died in 389, when about frxty-five years of age. Fie 
was in many refperts a great and a good man, and an or¬ 
nament to the age in which he lived. His benevolence 
and charity were boundlefs, and led him to devote al- 
mod the whole of his income to the relief of the poor 
and affliCted. Fie was one of the mod able champions 
in defence of the orthodox doCtrine of the Trinity, 
whence he obtained among the catholics the title of 
O ©eoXoyo®', or, tlce Divine, by way of diftinCtion ; but 
excepting in the indances of the Apollinarids, againlt 
whom he excited the enmity of his luccelfor NeCtarius, 
and his inveCtives againlt Julian, he can fcarcely be faid 
to have tranfgreffed the laws of candour and modera¬ 
tion towards thofe who differed from him in opinion. 
He poffeffed great quicknefs of apprehenfion, clearnefs 
of judgment, livelinefs of imagination, brilliancy of 
wit, and eafe and readinefs of elocution. His learning 
O R Y. 
was profound, and entitled him to the character of be¬ 
ing the bed fcholar of his age. Mod, if not all, of 
the works of this father are dill extant, and have under¬ 
gone a variety of impreflions, in collective and feparate 
forms. They confid of^Orations or Sermons, Letters, 
and Poems; fird publidied together at Bafil, in 1550, 
in Greek ; but the bed edition of them is that publidied 
by Frederic Morel, in 2 vols. folio, 1609, at Paris, in 
Greek and Latin. 
GREG'ORY {furnamed Nyssen, faint), was a 
younger brother of St. Bafil, and born in Cappadocia, 
about the year 332. He enjoyed the advantages of a 
liberal education, and didinguifiied himfelf by his pro¬ 
ficiency in literature and fcience, particularly excelling 
in the rhetorical art, which he praCtifed for fome time 
as a profedo'r and pleader, with great fuccefs and ap- 
plaufe. Through the perfuafion of Gregory Nazianzen 
Ire was induced to relinquiffi his fecular purfuits, and 
to apply with great diligence to the dudy of theology 
and of the Scriptures. Having taken orders, he be¬ 
came as eminent in the pulpit as he had been formerly 
at the bar; and, in 372, he was ordained bidiop of 
Nyfia, in Cappadocia, by his brother Bafil. He. was 
prefent at the council which met at Condantinople in 
381, where his learning and talents were confpicuoudy 
dilplayed, and liis advice followed in many of their 
mod important determinations. To him they confided 
the talk of drawing up a creed explanatory of the Ni- 
cene, which was adopted, and is the fame that has been 
received into the Englifii liturgy, under the name of 
the Nicene Creed, excepting the words “ and the Son,” in 
the article relating to the Holy Ghod, which were 
added at a later period. His name appears in the lids 
of the prelates who were prefent at the fynod held at 
Condantinople in 394. How long he lived after this 
date cannot be afeertained witli any exaCtnefs. He is 
highly extolled for the extent of his learning, the quick¬ 
nefs of his parts, the perfuafivenefs of his eloquence, 
and the piety and fanCtity of his life. His works con- 
fid of Commentaries on different parts of Scripture; 
dogmatical and controverfial Treatifes ; Sermons and 
F'uneral Orations ; Lives and Panegyrics of didinguiffied 
Characters; Letters, &c. The bed edition of them 
was publidied at Paris in 1615, in 2 vols. folio, which 
was followed by an Appendix in 1618, in Greek and 
Latin, with the verfion and notes of Fronton #11 Due, 
and under the fuperintendence of Claude Morel. This 
edition was reprinted in 1638, in 3 vols. folio, but with 
lefs neatnefs and corre&nefs than that of 1615. 
GREG'ORY (George-Florenee, commonly known 
by the name of Gregory of Tours), a faint in the 
Roman calendar, and, notwithdanding all his faults, 
the father of Gallic hiftory, flourifhed in the latter part 
of the fixth century. He was defcended from an illuf- 
trious family in Auvergne, and born in the year 544. 
When he had become a proficient in the learning of the 
times, he was admitted to deacon’s orders, and acquired 
confiderable reputation by his talents as a preacher. 
Being attacked by a dangerous illnefs, he paid a reli¬ 
gious vifit to the tomb of St. Martin at Tours, which 
proved the occafion of his introduction to the nobility, 
clergy, and inhabitants, of that city, whofe good opi¬ 
nion he conciliated by his behaviour among them, and 
by the exercife of his profeffional functions. So ftrong 
was the impreffion made in his favour, that on the death 
of Euphronius bifhop of Tours, in 573, he was unani- 
moufly eleCted his fucceflbr. He is fpoken of as having 
le cured the refpeCt and efteem of all ranks, by the fide¬ 
lity and diligence with which he discharged his epif- 
copal duties.. In 594 he took a journey to Rome, to 
vifit the tombs of the aportles, and to pay his refpeCts 
to pope Gregory the Great, who received him with the 
higheft marks of efteem. He died foon after his return 
to his diocefe, in 595, in the fifty-fccond year of his 
