Gregory of Nyssa's Biography: Theodore’s Journey to Alexandria and the Mystery of Two Baptisms

Gregory of Nyssa's biography of the Church Father, Gregory Thaumaturgus, also known as Theodore, was written around 380 CE. Perhaps its most intriguing reference is Theodore’s journey to Alexandria to become a “disciple of the gospel” there. We read:

“Just as Scripture says about Moses, ‘He was schooled in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,’ so also the Great One, coming through all the schooling of the Greeks and knowing by experience the weakness and incoherence of their doctrines, came to be a disciple of the gospel [at Alexandria], and even before being initiated through the mystical and incorporeal birth, he so perfected his life that he brought no stain of sin to the baptismal cleansing.”

Surely, Theodore couldn’t have just shown up in Egypt, knocked on the door of the Church of St. Mark near what is Chatby beach today, and expected to be shown the gospel of Alexandria. He would have needed an invitation letter to see this sacred text. Clement’s Letter to Theodore was, if not the very invitation, a letter in a chain of correspondences to that end.

The Alexandrian Gospel and Baptism

Despite Gregory of Nyssa’s reluctance to admit it, Theodore’s acquaintance with the Alexandrian gospel could only have happened in the context of baptism. Perhaps the initiation was interrupted. Yet the reality must have been that Theodore received two baptisms, one in Alexandria and another by the hand of Origen in Caesarea. Gregory is doing his best to avoid the appearance of portraying his namesake as undergoing two baptisms.

Andrea Sterk dismisses Gregory’s “invention” of this Alexandrian episode, apparently because no surviving documentation supports this historical event. However, scholars like Lardner and many others do not question its veracity. Gregory had access to a great number of texts no longer available to us – including perhaps Clement’s Letter to Theodore.

The Case for Two Baptisms

It is difficult to believe that Gregory would have invented an account that could be used to infer that Origen’s baptism of Theodore was, in fact, his second. There was a near-contemporary controversy regarding such a “second baptism” in conjunction with heretical followers of a certain “Mark,” as reported in Irenaeus and confirmed by the third-century retelling of his Adversus Haereses, the Philosophumena.

The parallels between Theodore’s experience and the controversies reported by Irenaeus highlight the challenges early Christians faced in their quest for spiritual purity and doctrinal correctness. Gregory’s account, whether wholly accurate or partially embellished, reflects the complexity of early Christian initiation rites and the tensions between different theological traditions.

Conclusion

Theodore's journey to Alexandria and his subsequent baptisms raise intriguing questions about early Christian practices and the transmission of sacred knowledge. Gregory of Nyssa's biography provides a valuable, albeit contested, glimpse into the spiritual and doctrinal dynamics of the early Church. By examining these narratives, we gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and controversies that shaped early Christian identity and the lengths to which early Christians went to preserve the integrity of their faith.