Nazianzenica XIV. La ‘tempesta sedata’ nella Vita Gregorii Theologi

The “Vita Gregorii Theologi”, that was composed by Gregory Presbyter between the sixth and the seventh centuries, recalls an episode from the life of St. Gregory Nazianzen which is known as the “Calming of the Storm”, that is a stormy navigation, between Alexandria and Attica, which was of decisive importance in the psychic experience of the young Gregory. Behind the confrontation between Gregory Presbyter’s narration of the episode and the distinct stories given by St. Gregory Nazianzen it is possible to detect the ways by which the Byzantine hagiograph re-wrote those narratives. We can, in fact, infer that he assembled and combined several passages from the Father of the Church in order to give a different meaning based on the very frame of reference of the hagiographic text, and he has thus essentially “reinvented” the so-called episode of the “Calming of the Storm”

La “Vita Gregorii Theologi”, composta da Gregorio Presbitero tra il VI e il VII secolo, rievoca un episodio della vita del Nazianzeno, noto come la “tempesta sedata”: una tempestosa navigazione, tra Alessandria e l’Attica, che ebbe un’importanza decisiva nell’esperienza psichica del giovane Gregorio. Dietro il confronto tra la narrazione dell’episodio fatta da Gregorio Presbitero e i distinti racconti che ne ha dato il Nazianzeno si possono individuare le modalità della riscrittura operata dall'agiografo bizantino: questi, assemblando e combinando passi del Padre della Chiesa e risignificandoli secondo le prospettive proprie del testo agiografico, ha sostanzialmente ‘reinventato’ l’episodio della “tempesta sedata”.