Grego'riusof Sicily or
Grego'riusAsbestas or
Grego'riusof Sicily35. Of SYRACUSE, sometimes called of SICILY. Gregory, surnamed ASBESTAS, was made bishop of
Syracuse about A. D. 845.
He went to Constantinople, apparently soon after his appointment to the see, for he appears
to have been there in A. D. 847, where Ignatius was chosen patriarch,
whose election he strenuously opposed. He was, in return, deposed by Ignatius in a council
held A. D. 854, on the ground, as Monitor affirms, of his profligacy;
and his deposition was confirmed by the Pope, Benedict III. When, on the deposition of
Ignatius, Photius was placed on the patriarchal throne, A. D. 858, he
was consecrated by Gregory, whose episcopal character, notwithstanding his deposition, was
thus recognised. Gregory was anathematised, together with Photius, at the council of Rome
A. D. 863: and his connection with the Greek patriarch is a reason
for receiving with caution the assertions of Romish writers as to his immoral character.
Photius promoted him A. D. 878 to the bishopric of Nicaea, in
Bithynia. He died soon after.
Works
Oratio longa in S. Methodium.He is perhaps the "Gregorius archiepiscopus Siciliae" mentioned by Allatius in his tract
De Methodiorum Scriptis (published in the
Convivium
decem Virginum Sti Methodii Martyris, Rome, 1656), as the author of an
Oratio longa in S. Methodium.The age of Gregory, who lived in and after the time of Methodius, favors this supposition,
but there is some difficulty from the term "Archiepiscopus Siciliae."
Further Information
Mongitor, Bibl. Sicula, vol. i. p. 263; Cave, Hist.
Litt. vol. ii. pp. 40, 76.