9 August 2024

The oldest extant complete will drawn up under Roman Law was written in 381AD by Gregory of Nazianzus. He was fifty-one at the time. It contains his own signature – and the signatures of six Cappadocian bishops! Three things stand out in this will.

Firstly, apart from a few personal legacies, Gregory consecrated all of his  possessions ‘to the Catholic Church which is in Nazianzus for the service of the poor who are under the care of the aforementioned church’. This is the nature of a true religion as Isaiah says, ‘Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house …’ (Isaiah 58;7)

Secondly, he effectively set up a trust to care for the poor. One of the trustees was another Gregory ‘deacon and monk, a member of my household whom I set free long ago’. He had been a slave but now an equal partner in the Lord. As St. Paul says, ‘In Christ … there is no longer slave nor free …’ (Galatians 3;28)

Thirdly, Gregory took the time to celebrate his friendships and  provided for them generously. He is meticulous in the delineation of what he calls ‘their little signs of friendship’. He mentions Evagrius ‘the deacon who has laboured much with me and shared in my thinking and has shown his kindness in many ways ..’

Gregory goes on to say, ‘God will repay him with great kindnesses; but that we might not neglect even little signs of friendship, I wish that he should receive a shirt, a coloured tunic, two cloaks and thirty gold pieces’.  In these ways, he leaves behind a moving record revealing the hidden workings of his heart.

Fittingly, he concludes his will, ‘In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’ And entered into the company of the Godhead whom he had revealed so clearly in 389AD. Having retired from ecclesiastical duties when he was fifty-four, he died six years later aged  sixty!

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