Righteous Nonna, Mother of Saint Gregory the Theologian (†374) — August 5 / August 18 (Julian Calendar)

On this day, August 5 according to the Julian Calendar (August 18 on the civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates the Righteous Nonna, mother of Saint Gregory the Theologian.

The Righteous Nonna, mother of Gregory the Theologian, was born and raised in a Christian family. Her parents, Philtatius and Gorgonia, brought her up in a Christian spirit. When the time came, they gave the maiden in marriage to a wealthy landowner named Gregory, who had estates in Arianzus and Nazianzus. In spiritual terms the marriage proved difficult for the God-fearing woman, for her husband was a pagan, and the pious Nonna fervently entreated God to turn Gregory to the true faith. Her son, Gregory the Theologian, writes: “She could not bear to be joined to God with one half and estranged with the other; she desired that the bond of the flesh be joined by a spiritual bond as well. Therefore day and night, with fasting and tears, she besought God to save her husband.”

Through the prayer of Saint Nonna, God sent Gregory a vision in his sleep, after which he went to the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea and confessed his conversion to the true faith. Having set out on the way of salvation, Gregory was first ordained a priest and then entrusted with the episcopal see of Nazianzus; and at the time of his consecration as bishop, Saint Nonna was ordained a deaconess.

In the last years of her life many trials befell Saint Nonna. In 368 her younger son Caesarius died, a young man of brilliant promise; the following year her daughter also reposed.

Gregory the Theologian writes: “My mother was always firm and courageous, and throughout her whole life she felt no infirmity; but at the end sickness came upon her. That I may not prolong my account, out of many torments I will name the most grievous, which lasted many days and could be healed by no medicine. How did God sustain her? He sent no manna, as once to Israel; He clove no rock that water might flow for the thirsting; He fed her not by ravens, as He fed Elijah. In a vision I seemed to feed her with wondrous white loaves; then I said a prayer, made the sign of the Cross over the bread according to the custom we have received, and offered it to her to taste, and thereby strengthened her and restored her powers. This nocturnal vision was for her something truly real, for from that time she came to herself and took on a look of hope. When early in the morning I came in to her, I at once noticed the improvement in her condition. Then, as usual, I asked how she had passed the night and whether she needed anything, and she answered readily and sweetly: ‘My beloved child, you yourself fed me, and now you ask about my health?! How kind and gentle you are!’ The maidservants signaled to me not to contradict her, nor to receive her words with indifference, nor to cast her into despair by disclosing the truth.”

In 374, at the age of one hundred, Bishop Gregory reposed (commemorated January 1). After her husband’s death Saint Nonna scarcely left the church at all, and there, during prayer, she commended her soul to the Lord on August 5, 374.