Miguel Brugarolas: From Gregory of Nazianzus to Gregory of Nyssa’s Pneumatological Christology

Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa are situated in a complex historical and theological context in terms of the development of their Christology. On the one hand, the Arian crisis demanded a clear explanation of Logos’ perfect transcendence and, therefore, a vindication of the possibility of the Incarnation of Logos inasmuch as he is true God. On the other hand, the emergence of Apollinarianism unveiled the urgency of considering all the consequences of the biblical teaching on the Incarnation of the Word and the authentic reality of Christ’s humanity. In this context and in a time in which technical Christological language was not yet definitely configured, both Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa describe the unity of the human and the divine in Christ using paradox and “material” categories, such as “mixture” language. This article analyzes some writings of the Cappadocian Fathers and performs a comparative study of those texts. It aims to show how their description of the relation between the human and the divine in Christ is grounded in an economic-salvific principle and points to an authentic pneumatological Christology. The Incarnation took place in such a manner that it is the only way through which human being can attain communion with God, an eschatological transformation described in apophatic terms, that is, the epektasis.