THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
tent ion of pursuing the legal career for which he had been educated, Gregory was consecrated bishop of his native city about 240 by Bishop Phsdimus of Amasia. According to tradition, there were then only seventeen Christians in the town, and Gregory is considered the founder of the Church there. Of the marvels which were believed to have accompanied his labors, there are three or, it may be said four, accounts. These are the "Life and Eulogy" by Gregory of Nyssa (MPG, xlvi.); Rufinus' account of the miracles (Hist, eccl., vii. 25); and the Sj-rian "Narrative of the Glorious Deeds of the Blessed Gregory," preserved in a manuscript of the sixth century, besides the account contained in Basil, De Spiritu sancto, lxxiv. The differences seem to exclude the hypothesis of a common written source, as the similarities make for that of a common oral tradition. The personal and local knowledge of Gregory of Nyssa makes his version apparently the most trustworthy; but the legendary element is strong in all of them. Gregory governed his diocese for thirty years, took part in the first, and probably the second, council held against Paul of Antioch, and, according to Suidas, died in the reign of Aurelian, leaving, it is said, only as many pagans in Neocaesarea as he had found Christians.
A memorial of his work is found in his Epistola canonica, on the regulation of church life in Pontus after it had been troubled by the invasion of the Goths. Apparently, however, the demands of practical life left him little time for literary activity. His "Exposition of the Faith" was evidently written to meet practical needs. A "Metaphrase of Ecclesiastes " is attributed by some manuscripts to Gregory Xazianzen, the most famous Eastern bearer of the name; but Jerome (De vir. ill., lxv.; In Eccl., iv.) definitely ascribes it to Gregory Thaumaturgus. It is more difficult to decide the question of authorship in the case of two treatises ascribed to him in their Syriac translation, "To Theopompus on the Impassibility of God" and "To Philagrius on Consubstantiality." The former offers striking points of resemblance with the undoubted works of Methodius, both in general structure and in detail. The Greek original of the latter is found among the works of Gregory Nazianzen, and also of Gregory of Nyssa. The "To Tatian on the .Soul," a philosophical discussion of the nature of the soul, found also in the Syriac, is ascribed to Gregory in a passage of Nicholas of Methone. The treatise commonly known as Anathematismoi, on the other hand, is certainly not his, whether it belongs to Vitalis or, as is more likely, is an anti-Apollinarian work of the latter half of the fifth century. Caspari has proved the Kata meros pistis to be a work of Apollinaris; and the complaint is made as early as 500 that such works were interpolated among the genuine writings of Gregory. Of the fragments found in the Greek, Syriac, and Armenian catena?, some are genuine and some spurious. (N. Bonwetsch.)
Bibliography: Lists of literature are given in ANF, bibliography, pp. 65-66; Fabricius-Harles, Bibliotheca Grceca, vii. 249 sqq., Hamburg, 1801; Kriiger, History, pp. 226 sqq.; P. Batiffol, Anciennes literatures chn'tiennes, pp. 180-181, Paris, 1897. Editions of the Opera were pub-
lished in Latin, ed. F. Zinus, Venice, 1574, Rome, 1594; ed. Ci. Vossius, Mainz, 1604; in Greek, ed. V. Ductus, Paris, 1022; and in MPG, x. Works were published separately, the Epistola canonica, in Routh, Reliquirr sacra; iii. 251-283, 5 vols., Oxford, 1846-48; the Metaphrasis, Greek and Latin, by A. Schott, Antwerp, 1613; the Expositio fidei, in Greek and English, in W. Cave, Lives of the Primitive Fathers, ii. 267, London, 1683, ef. C. P. Caspari, A Ite und neue Quellen zur Geschichte des Taufsymbols, pp. 10 sqq., Christiania, 1879; F. Kattenbusch, Das aposlolische Symbol, i. 338 sqq., Leipsic, 1894; A. and G. L. Hahn, Bibliothek der Symbole und Glaubensregeln, pp. 253 sqq., Breslau, 1897; a Syriac transl. of one of his works is in A. S. Lewis, Studia Sinaitica, pp. 19 sqq., London, 1894; Eng. transl. of the works is in ANF, vi. 7-74.
Consult: V. Ryssel, Gregor Thaumaturgus, sein Leben und seine Schriften, Leipsic, 1880; idem, in Theologische Zeitschrift aus der Schweiz, 1894, pp. 228-254; F. W. Farrar, Lives of the Fathers, i. 326-330, New York, 1889; J. Draseke, in JPT, vii (1881), 379 sqq., 724; E. Nestle, Bengel als Gelehrter, pp. 21 sqq., Tubingen, 1893; O. Bardenhewer, Patrologie, pp. 167 sqq., Freiburg, 1894; F. X. Funk, in TQS, 1898, pp. 81 sqq.; P. Kotschau, in ZWT, 1898, pp. 211 sqq.; Neander, Christian Church, i. 716-720; Schaff, Christian Church, ii. 796-800; Harnack, Dogma, ii.-iv. passim; DCB, ii. 730-737; Krviger, History, pp. 226 sqq.; KL, v. 1184-88.
GREGORY OF TOURS: Frankish bishop and historian; b. at Arverna, the present Clermont- Ferrand (250 m. s.s.e. of Paris), 538 or 539; d. at Tours Nov. 17, 593 or 594. He came of a noble Roman family, and originally bore the name Georgius Florentius, which he changed afterward out of veneration for his great-grandfather, Gregory, bishop of Langres. A dangerous illness in 563 induced him to make a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Martin at Tours, and his recovery fixed the religious tendency of his earlier years. On the death of Bishop Euphronius of Tours, in 573, he was chosen to fill the vacancy, and obliged by Sigibert I., at whose court he had been living, to accept. He devoted himself zealously to his episcopal duties, and also looked after the temporal welfare of the people of Tours. Tours had belonged to Charibert, on whose death (567) it came into Sigibert's possession, though it was incessantly contested by Chilperich, who, after Sigibert's murder in 576, ruled it until his own death in 584. Gregory took no active part in this conflict; but Chilperich and his partizans hated him, until his firm and wise behavior, when brought to trial on a false charge of having slandered Queen Fredegunde, made such an impression on the king that he maintained more friendly relations with him. These were continued by his successors, Guntchramnus and Childebert II., under whom he was frequently consulted on affairs of state. His literary activity began with a book (never completed) on the miracles of St. Martin in 575. Next came the history of Julian, a local saint. The Liber in gloria martyrum was written after 587; it, as well as the In gloria confessorum, celebrates by choice the deeds of Gallic saints. More important is the Liber vita patrum, which gives information concerning a number of Gallic leaders of the period following the fall of the empire and the foundation of the Germanic states. But his best-known work is his Historia Francorum, which he began not long after his consecration and continued down to 591, with some fragmentary additions in his later years. It be-