St. Gregory of Nyssa

Gregory of Nyssa was the younger brother of Basil the Great and, with Basil and Gregory Nazianzen, one of the three Cappadocian Fathers. Made bishop of Nyssa around 372, he endured exile under the Arian emperor Valens before returning to take a leading part in the Council of Constantinople in 381, where the Nicene faith in the full divinity of the Son and the Holy Spirit was affirmed. The most philosophically gifted of the Cappadocians, Gregory joined rigorous theological argument with deep contemplative insight, writing on the Trinity, the making of man, the soul and the resurrection, and the whole economy of salvation. Schaff's volume presents him as a master of dogmatic exposition and a guide to the ascent of the soul toward God.