Gregory glorifies the One who is present and active at all times and invokes his active, saving and sanctifying presence especially in the festal assembly. In his homily on Christ’s birth and again in his second homily on Pascha, he provides a systematic theology in a nutshell.22 He places himself and his audience within the narrative of all that God has done, is doing and will do in history and thus locates the assembled worshipers within the living stream of salvation history itself. In this context