St. Gregory the Theologian

section of museum: Byzantine

name of artist: unknown

title of the work of art: St. Gregory the Theologian

date created: A.D. 1150

source(s) used: #1 - http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Gregory_of_Nazianzus

#2 - World History - Perspectives on the Past (Krieger, Jantzen, Neill)

writing prompt: How important was St. Gregory to Christians?

historical fiction:

St. Gregory of Nazianzus had died in the year A.D. 390 A.D., and in this year 1204 I was disguised as a Crusader sent on a secret mission to steal Gregory’s body. Although our Crusaders originally set out to help the Christians in the Byzantine empire, they soon discovered that the Byzantines were ungrateful and unwilling to pay us for the expenses to get to the Holy Land. Forgetting their vows to serve God, these Crusaders sought to enrich themselves by sacking Constantinople where St. Gregory was buried. Upon hearing this news in Rome, Pope Innocent III sent me on a mission to retrieve St. Gregory’s body and bring it to Rome for safekeeping.

I waited until the middle of the night to sneak into the Church of the Holy Apostles where St. Gregory was interred. As I quietly made my way to the tombs, I was spotted by a priest who was standing between me and the tombs. I drew my sword and prepared to kill the priest before he could raise an alarm, however instead of crying out, he told me that St. Gregory had appeared to him in a dream and explained that I would be coming to rescue him, and that the priest should help. As the priest was helping me move St. Gregory’s remains out of the church, I couldn’t help but believe that I was doing God’s work.