Nonna (c. 305–c. 374)

Religious woman who was the wife and mother and grandmother of bishops. Name variations: Nona. Born around 305 ce; died around 374; daughter of Christian parents from the Anatolian province of Cappadocia; married Gregory (bishop of Nazianzus), around 320; children: daughter Gorgonia; two sons, Caesarius and Gregory Nazianzus, also seen as Gregory Nazianzen (329–389).

The daughter of Christian parents of some means from the Anatolian province of Cappadocia, Nonna married a pagan named Gregory around 320. Of an extremely religious nature, Nonna convinced her husband to convert to Christianity (he is said to have done so after the prayers of Nonna caused him to have a religious vision) in the year 326, after which his piety became so famous that he was ordained and then made the bishop of Nazianzus. This was a period, shortly after the legalization of Christianity, in which the rules governing clerical celibacy were by no means uniform. Although Gregory's zealous religiosity was renowned, his orthodoxy was not always so, for he was made a bishop before he had mastered the intricacies of the era's various theological disputes. Thus, he occasionally fell victim to doctrinal error, which he freely admitted when the "orthodox" position was illuminated for him, most often by Nonna.

The pious couple produced three children, all of whom were eventually recognized as saints by the Eastern Church: a daughter, Gorgonia , and two sons, Caesarius and Gregory Nazianzus. Gregory Nazianzus especially achieved prominence by the end of his ecclesiastical career, and has ever since been known as one of the four great "doctors" of the Greek Orthodox Church. According to this son, Nonna was the model Christian spouse, loving Jesus first and her family second; she is reported as having always succumbed to her husband's authority, while simultaneously always remaining his superior in piety. In addition, Gregory praised Nonna for rejecting cosmetics and the fancy attire common to women of her status, for balancing her time between running her household and doing social work (especially championing the interests of widows and orphans), for admiring virginity even as she reared a family, for embracing asceticism while distributing her personal wealth among the poor, and (perhaps on the darker side) for shunning pagans and pagan culture as vile.

Nonna's ambitions for her offspring are made evident in the career of Gregory, whom she wanted to receive the best possible philosophical and theological education. To become trained in these fields, Gregory left home to study first in the Cappadocian city of Caesarea, thereafter to move on to Caesarea in Palestine, to Alexandria, and ultimately to Athens as he exhausted the educational opportunities present in each city. Despite being separated for years as the children sought enlightenment through religious education far from Nazianzus, the family remained emotionally close, often dreaming of one another during moments of sickness and crisis. Perhaps the most intriguing such episode as reported by Nonna's son Gregory involved his maritime journey from Palestine to Alexandria, during which a great storm almost sunk the ship he was on. As he later attested (having confirmed to his satisfaction the truth of his tale), Nonna shared his jeopardy in a dream at the very moment of his greatest physical danger.

With schooling finished, Gregory returned to the town of his birth, intent on a life of monastic solitude. Instead, his father ordained him as a priest and relied upon him to help run the Nazianzian diocese. Thereafter, the younger Gregory spent much of his time near his parents, both taking and giving comfort through their love of Jesus and each other. The lives of Nonna and Gregory the elder were not without their sorrows, for in about 360 they experienced in quick succession the deaths of Gorgonia and Caesarius. Nevertheless until the end of their days, they continued to enjoy the company of the younger Gregory, who, in about 374, was present at the death of his father, and shortly thereafter, at the death of Nonna herself.

William Greenwalt , Associate Professor of Classical History, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California