Righteous Caesarius of Nazianzus

Caesarius of Nazianzus was a fourth-century physician and the younger brother of Saint Gregory the Theologian. Born around 331 at Arianzus near Nazianzus in Cappadocia, he was the son of Gregory the Elder, bishop of Nazianzus, and his wife Nonna. He is remembered chiefly through the funeral oration his brother Gregory delivered for him, which remains the principal source for his life, and he is commemorated on March 9.

He pursued an extensive education, studying first in Cappadocia and then at the renowned schools of Alexandria, where he devoted himself to geometry, astronomy, and above all medicine, a field in which the sources say he excelled beyond his fellow students. By about 355 he had settled in Constantinople, where he won a great reputation for his medical skill and rose to serve as a physician at the imperial court.

Caesarius held positions of honor under successive emperors while keeping his Christian faith. He served at the court of Constantius II, and afterward, despite his family's misgivings, at the court of Julian the Apostate, whose attempts to win him over to paganism failed. After Julian's death in 363 he continued in public service under Valens, holding a treasury office in Bithynia. By tradition, his escape from the earthquake that struck Nicaea on October 11, 368, moved him, at the urging of his brother Gregory and Saint Basil, to withdraw from public life; he was baptized and gave his possessions to the poor, and reposed shortly afterward, late in 368 or early in 369.