Quote in context
Gregory on what Christ had to assume
Gregory of Nazianzus · Epistle 101 to Cledonius
“What has not been assumed has not been healed; it is what is united to his divinity that is saved.”
Plain English
Gregory is answering the claim that Christ did not have a full human mind. His reply is simple: anything Christ did not take on, he did not heal.
Why it matters
This became a decisive line in later Christology and helped secure the insistence that Christ is fully human.
Who said it
Gregory of Nazianzus
c. 329 – 390 · Born in Arianzus · Asia Minor
Eastern Orthodoxy gives only three theologians the title 'the Theologian' — John the Evangelist, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Symeon the New Theologian. Nazianzus earned it with five sermons preached in Constantinople in 380 that nailed down what 'three persons, one God' actually means. He didn't want the job (he kept trying to retire to a contemplative life) but when the Trinitarian crisis demanded clarity, he produced it. After him, Trinitarian orthodoxy is settled.
Book of the day
Five Theological Orations
Gregory of NazianzusA reading pick tied to today's figure, quote, era, or event. Dense but decisive sermons on the Trinity from the theologian of Constantinople.
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