HTR 100:2 (2007) 199–214 Divine Causality and the Monarchy of God the Father in Gregory of Nazianzus * Christopher A. Beeley Yale University Divinity School Gregory Nazianzen’s doctrine of the Trinity has had a most unusual reception in modern times. Since the Council of Chalcedon in 451 Gregory has been honored developments that continued through the eighth century, and his stature in Greek Christian tradition is comparable only to that of Augustine in the West, although scholars and systematic theologians. Even the most recent wave of specialized work on Gregory and the current synoptic studies of patristic doctrine have tended to overlook major aspects of his work. One of the most acute points of confusion in Gregory’s doctrine of divine causality and the monarchy of God the Father within the Trinity. 1 to which Gregory’s doctrine has yet to be assimilated in contemporary historical * Thanks to Lewis Ayres and Rowan Greer for comments on a draft of this article, and to Michel Barnes and Verna Harrison for discussion of an earlier version presented at the 2005 annual meeting of the North American Patristics Society. 1 In Gregory’s usage , , and are virtually interchangeable terms for “cause,” and often appear together with the closely related term (source, origin, first principle; also chronological beginning, office, or authority). See John P. Egan, “ /‘Author’, /‘Cause’ and Gregory of Nazianzus on the Trinity and the Knowledge of God: In Your Light We Shall See Light