March 9^th is the special day to remember Gregory of Nyssa, an early Christian theologian who served as the Bishop of Nyssa in Turkey, from 372 to 376 and from 378 until his death in 394. He, his younger brother, Bishop Basil of Caesarea, and their friend, Gregory of Nazianzus, are known as the Cappadocian Fathers.

“Why care about the Cappadocians? Because they affirmed the Holy Spirit as God and formulated the language of the Trinity that the global church accepted at the first Council of Constantinople in A.D. 381…. They grounded their understanding of the Holy Spirit not in who God is (God’s essence), but in what God does (God’s activity in the world).”                     [my book, Afire With God: Becoming Spirited Stewards, 59.]

Another major contribution lay in how they countered the ideas of Plato and Aristotle, and made major contributions to our understanding God as the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and the final version of the Nicene Creed. Those were confirmed at the world-wide Council of Constantine back in 381 A.D.