St. Gregory the Wonderworker (c. 210-270)

Born at Neocaesarea in Pontus about 210, of pagan parents of rank, he set out to study law and found instead the school of Origen at Caesarea in Palestine, where he stayed five years and became a Christian. Made bishop of his own city, he found seventeen Christians there, and it is said that when he died, about 270, seventeen pagans were left. Gregory of Nyssa wrote his Life, which tells how the Theotokos and John the Theologian appeared to him and gave him the confession of the Trinity that bears his name; Basil the Great cites him in On the Holy Spirit as a witness to the faith, which Basil’s grandmother Macrina had learned from his disciples. The wonders he worked in Pontus gave him his name. Feast: November 17.