Primary source · Koine Greek
The Orations of Gregory of Nazianzus
Gregory of Nazianzus, “the Theologian” · AD 362–383
What this text is
Forty-five orations — the funeral masterpieces for his brother Caesarius, his sister Gorgonia, and his father; the invectives against Julian; and the Theological Orations that earned him his title.
Profile of Gregory of Nazianzus →
Interlinear passages
Word-for-word glosses of the original; the complete public-domain translation is linked below.
Public-domain translations
Browne–Swallow (NPNF, 1894)
Christ is born, glorify ye Him. Christ from heaven, go ye out to meet Him. Christ on earth, be ye exalted… (Or. 7, for Caesarius:) He was and would remain a Christian — preferring Christ to all the emperor could give.
Manuscript witnesses
Paris gr. 510 — the illuminated Gregory
c. AD 880The great illustrated codex of the Orations made for Basil I — among the most celebrated Byzantine manuscripts in existence.
The ‘read’ and ‘not-read’ collections
9th–11th centuryThe sixteen liturgical orations were copied in hundreds of lectionary codices — Gregory became, after scripture, the most copied author in Byzantium.
Provenance
Constantinople and Nazianzus, AD 379–383 — the Theologian's forty-five orations
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Grégoire de Nazianze: Discours (SC, 9 vols.)J. Bernardi, P. Gallay, C. Moreschini et al., 1978–1995The critical edition with French translation.
- Saint Gregory of Nazianzus: An Intellectual BiographyJohn A. McGuckin, 2001The standard modern life.