A member of the Hypsistarians, a distinct Jewish-pagan sect worshiping Hypsistos, the "Most High" God, Gregory was convinced to convert to Christianity by his wife Nonna in 325.
One daughter, Saint Gorgonia outlived her parents by only a year, and was lauded in the eulogy given by her brother as a model Christian wife.
Their younger son, Caesarius of Nazianzus, studied in Caesarea Mazaca and at Alexandria and became a physician.
He served in Constantinople as the court physician for both Constantius II and Julian the Apostate, and died in 368.
[3] Their elder son, also named Gregory (and sometimes known as "the Younger"), served alongside his father first as a priest, and then as coadjutor.