Neocæsaréæ, in Ponto, natális sancti Gregórii, Epíscopi et Confessóris, doctrína et sanctitáte illústris, qui propter signa atque mirácula, quæ cum multa Ecclesiárum glória perpetrávit, Thaumatúrgus est appellátus.
"At Neocaesarea in Pontus, the birthday of St. Gregory, bishop and confessor, illustrious for his learning and sanctity. The signs and miracles which he wrought to the great glory of the Church gained for him the surname Wonderworker."
In addition to the many miracles God worked through him, St. Gregory also was renowned for his sublime explication of the Church's Trinitarian faith. Taking a leading role in the local council of Antioch (A.D. 269) that condemned the heresies and moral lapses of Paul of Samosata, St. Gregory issued a creed or confession of faith. According to a very early tradition handed down by those who knew him, the Saint had received that creed during a vision or apparition of the Apostle St. John and the Blessed Virgin Mary. St. John is said to have dictated the creed aloud while Our Lady prayed silently. Unless one interprets the 12th chapter of the St. John's Apocalypse as a Marian apparition, St. Gregory's would be the earliest known Marian apparition. The Wonderworker's confession anticipates both the Nicene Creed and the 'Athanasian' Creed:
There is one God, the Father of the living Word, who is the substantive wisdom and eternal power and image of God: the perfect begetter of the perfect begotten: the Father of the only-begotten Son.
There is one Lord, one of one, God of God, the image and likeness of the Godhead, the mighty Word, the wisdom which comprehends the constitution of all things, and the power which produces all creation; the true Son of the true Father, Invisible of Invisible, Incorruptible of Incorruptible, and Immortal of Immortal, and Everlasting of Everlasting.
And there is one Holy Spirit, having His existence from God, and being manifested by the Son, namely, to men, the perfect likeness of the perfect Son, Life, the cause of the living, the sacred fount, sanctity, the leader of sanctification: in whom is revealed God the Father, who is over all things and in all things, and God the Son, who is through all things: a perfect Trinity, not divided nor differing in glory and eternity and sovereignty.
Neither, indeed, is there anything created or subservient in the Trinity, nor introduced, as though not there before but coming in afterwards; nor, indeed, has the Son ever been without the Father, nor the Spirit without the Son, but the Trinity is ever the same, unvarying and unchangeable.
