
When you're a middle child (and there are many middle children when you're one of ten) and your older brother is a well-educated Church Father, it's hard to grow up. Being compared to Basil was indubitably challenging for Gregory--especially since Basil was the only one to receive a formal education. His parents--descendants of martyrs themselves--had wanted to provide education for their children but their limited means meant that they could only afford to educate their eldest son. But, Basil came back and helped his younger brothers learn--especially Gregory. In fact, as Gregory grew both in maturity and intellect, older brother Basil predicted that in the future his name would lend more notoriety to the city of Nyssa then the city of Nyssa's name would lend to him. On this count, Basil was very correct.

Within a year of his return to the Church, his older brother Basil died and Gregory was emotionally and mentally crippled. Only through the care and comfort of his older sister Macrina was he able to recover and continue on with his calling as a servant of God and the Church. In 381, he was part of the Second Ecumenical Council of Constantitnople and helped draft the Nicene-Constantinopolitan creed. This master work of the Church was a shield against heresy that delineated what orthodoxy was so that members of the Church could challenge themselves further to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Further, this creed helped label and identify the dangers of heterodoxy. He spent the rest of his life working with his friend Gregory of Nazianzus to teach orthodoxy to a people hungry for understanding.
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