Gregory of Cyprus (monk)

Gregory of Cyprus was a Persian monk, mystic and writer of the Church of the East. ^[1] Born at Ahvaz in the 6th century, he spent a period of exile working as a gardener for a Greek Orthodox monastery on the island of Cyprus. ^[2] He afterwards settled on Mount Izla. ^[1]

Gregory had a reputation for receiving visions. ^[2] His known writings, all in Syriac, include:

• Chapters on Prayer ^[3]
• Treatise on the Monastic Life, of which only the seventh and last book, "On Divine Contemplation", survives ^[4]
• three letters, one to a disciple named Epiphanios ^[1]

Gregory is sometimes misidentified as the author of the Revelation of Saint Gregory . ^[5] Gregory's writings were also used in the Syriac Orthodox Church. ^[1]

Notes

1. Brock 2018.
2. Pirtea 2018, p. 358.
3. Pirtea 2018, p. 369.
4. Brock 2018. Pirtea 2018 , p. 369, appears to call this work Eight Memre and give the surviving chapter as the seventh of eight.
5. Perczel 2013, p. 349.

Bibliography

• Brock, Sebastian (2018) [2011]. "Grigorios of Cyprus". In Sebastian Brock; Aaron M. Butts; George A. Kiraz; Lucas Van Rompay (eds.). Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition. Beth Mardutho [Gorgias Press]. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
• Perczel, Istvan (2013). "The Revelation of the Seraphic Gregory Found in Two Indian Manuscripts" (PDF). Adamantius. 19: 337–358.
• Pirtea, Adrian (2018). "The Mysticism of the Church of the East". In Daniel King (ed.). The Syriac World. Routledge. pp. 355–376.