It was all in vain moreover, it would seem that the young man married. His family, it would seem, had endeavoured to turn his thoughts towards the Church, for when the young man chose a secular career and began the study of rhetoric, Basil remonstrated with him long and earnestly when he had failed he called on Gregory's friends to influence him against that objectionable secular calling. Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa spent some time, very probably in his early youth, for it is certain that while still a youth Gregory exercised the ecclesiastical office of rector. Basil's training was an antidote to the lessons of the pagan schools, wherein, as we know from a letter of St. Probably, therefore, the difference in years between them was such as to have enabled Basil to supervise the education of his younger brothers. A letter of Gregory to his younger brother, Peter, exhibits the feelings of lively gratitude which both cherished for their elder brother Basil, whom Gregory calls "our father and our master". Another brother, Naucratius, a lawyer, inclined to a life of asceticism, but died too young to realize his desires.
His mother Emmelia was a martyr's daughter two of his brothers, Basil of Cæsarea and Peter of Sebaste, became bishops like himself his eldest sister, Macrina, became a model of piety and is honoured as a saint. Gregory was born of a deeply religious family, not very rich in worldly goods, to which circumstances he probably owed the pious training of his youth. He belongs to the group known as the "Cappadocian Fathers", a title which reveals at once his birthplace in Asia Minor and his intellectual characteristics. Date of birth unknown died after 385 or 386.
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