Gregory of Nyssa (circa 335 – circa 395) was a Cappadocian preacher, bishop, and theologian whose ministry shaped early Christian doctrine and spirituality across the late Roman Empire. Born in Caesarea, Cappadocia (modern-day Kayseri, Turkey), to Emmelia and Basil the Elder, a rhetorician, he was one of ten children in a devout Christian family, including siblings Saint Basil the Great and Saint Macrina the Younger. Initially uninterested in church life, he trained as a rhetorician under his father and brother, marrying before embracing monasticism after his wife’s death, later ordained as Bishop of Nyssa in 372 by Basil. Gregory’s preaching career unfolded amidst theological battles, delivering sermons that defended the Nicene Creed against Arianism—most notably at the Council of Constantinople in 381, where his orations helped affirm Christ’s divinity. His homilies, like those on the Lord’s Prayer, the Beatitudes, and Song of Songs (preserved in writings), emphasized mystical union with God and the soul’s ascent, influencing centuries of Christian thought. Exiled by Emperor Valens in 375–378 for his orthodoxy, he returned to Nyssa and later preached in Constantinople and Sebaste. Author of Life of Moses and On the Making of Man, he married a woman named Theosebeia (possibly a symbolic union), with no children, and passed away around age 60 in Nyssa, Cappadocia.