Nonna of Nazianzus

Saint Nonna of Nazianzus was the wife of Saint Gregory the Elder of Nazianzus and mother of Saint Gregory the Theologian, of Caesarius and of Gorgonia, in Cappadocia. She fell asleep in 374. The Church remembers her on 5 August. Her whole family is venerated as saints.

She was a Christian and married a wealthy aristocrat of Nazianzus in southwestern Cappadocia. Her husband, Gregory, belonged to the sect of the Hypsistarians, who worshipped the Most High, in a Jewish-⁠pagan blend. Saint Gregory the Theologian writes: "The woman given by God to my father was for him not only a helper, which is not so surprising, but a guide. She herself, in word and deed, directed him to everything that is best. Day and night she fell before God, in fasting and with many tears, asking Him to grant salvation to her head, and she worked tirelessly on her husband, seeking to win him in various ways." At her urging her husband became a Christian and in 325 asked baptism of the fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, after which she "showed in herself the example of a good flock", remaining for him "not only an ornament but a pattern of virtue". For a long time she was childless and vowed that if she had one she would dedicate him to God. In sleep she had a vision of the future child and was told his name. The firstborn was Gregory the Theologian, who all his life remembered the story and regarded his life as the fulfilment of his mother's vow. Probably Saint Nonna had a decisive influence in raising her children, Gregory, Caesarius and Gorgonia, in the spirit of Christian piety, all three becoming saints.

In 351, Gregory tells, Nonna fell gravely ill and seemed near death. On his way to visit a friend, Gregory hurried instead to his mother, who in the meantime had begun to recover. She had had a vision in which Gregory had given her wonderful cakes marked with the sign of the cross and blessed by him. Gregory held her up as a model of Christian motherhood. In 374 her husband died, and she fell asleep soon after him, while praying in church, having outlived him and two of her children. Shaken by the death of his parents, Gregory wrote in their honour several epitaphs.