On Wednesday 29 April 2015, the College was privileged to have as a guest speaker for History of the Early Church (H7110A) and The Early Church (H8510A), Dr Graham Lovell (Macquarie University alumnus), a good friend of St Andrew’s and contributor to last year’s patristic symposium. Dr Lovell’s main area of research is the life and writings of St Gregory of Neocaesarea (otherwise known in tradition as St Gregory the ‘Wonderworker’), on which he published a monograph based on his PhD thesis entitled Gregory of Neocaesarea: Evangelist in Pontus last year. The following reflections are by Mario Baghos, Associate Lecturer in Church History at St Andrew’s:

“At the suggestion of Protopresbyter Dr Doru Costache, Senior Lecturer in Patristic Studies, I invited Dr Graham Lovell to speak on Gregory of Neocaesarea, a saint I knew very little about. Corresponding with Dr Lovell in the weeks leading up to his lecture, I read the texts that he recommended for the students, namely St Gregory’s Address of Thanksgiving to Origen and the Life of the Neocaesarean written by St Gregory of Nyssa, and was struck by the saint’s commitment to Christian philosophy and pastoral leadership, which was made even clearer by Dr Lovell and Rachel Jefferson’s translation, for the first time into English, of an Anonymous Life of Gregory written in the mid-fourth century. Dr Lovell graciously provided excerpts from this text for reading beforehand, and so we were all eagerly anticipating the gems that he would uncover when the lecture finally took place.

We were not disappointed! Dr Lovell contextualised the main historical sources for the saint’s life and expertly navigated their development over time. Whilst the texts at many places corroborate one another, owing to the oral tradition that passed on the memory of St Gregory from generation to generation, Dr Lovell highlighted the fact that early Christian readers were interested in formation, and not necessarily information, which helped us to make sense of the places where the texts diverged. According to Dr Lovell, ultimately what matters is the portrait that emerges of St Gregory as providentially guided towards the Christian life and becoming one of its main ambassadors. St Gregory’s studies under Origen left their positive mark; afterwards he became an ascetic recluse in Pontus before becoming appointed bishop of Neocaesarea by divine providence and the common consent of the people. Dr Lovell gave us insights into the Neocaesarean’s Trinitology and Christology before addressing some key circumstances in his role as pastor, including the settling of disputes and the conversion of much of the pagan population to Christianity, which included a temple priest!

Many thanks to Dr Lovell for his enthusiastic and inspiring presentation of this early Christian leader, to Father Doru for prompting the lecture to take place, and to the students for their participation and insightful questions.”