The mother carefully raised her son, and to help her labors, the miracle of God strengthened his soul.

A wondrous dream – a vision that struck his childish mind – remained in the consciousness of the saint as the first tangible touch to the holy object. In a deep dream, he imagined that two beautiful maidens in white robes were standing beside him. The boy immediately felt that they were not mere mortals, and to the question: "Who are they?" he received the answer: "One of us is purity, and the other is chastity. We stand before Christ the King. Son, unite your mind with our hearts, so that we may bring you to heaven and place you before the light of the Heavenly Trinity."

Purity and chastity are the path to the Heavenly Fatherland, the path to God.

And the boy enters adolescence, already knowing the true value of virtues. He knows that it is not gold and wealth, not the brilliance of learning and wisdom that constitute the true treasure of life, but purity of heart and mind, chastity of thoughts and body, only this must be guarded as the apple of the eye. Gregory accepted the covenant in his childhood, carried it, and kept it in his youth. It was by purity that Gregory was able to receive from God the gift of a servant of the Word.

But now let's return to our days, to us who want to be with God. Who today can boldly say that he himself has preserved these great treasures in the eyes of God – purity and chastity – and has given an understanding of them to his children? Well, if you have not preserved these virtues yourself and have not passed them on to your children, then only the publican's humility, the publican's voice of repentance, can cleanse the soul mired in impurity and wash the leprous body.

O God, be merciful to us sinners..

But let us turn for our edification to the next period in the life of the future saint. Grigory's home education ended early. The pious mother, seeing her son's firmness in piety, fearlessly lowers the nine-year-old boy into a distant country in order to give him a complete and versatile education.

Gregory went to Caesarea, where he first met the young man Basil, also the future hierarch of the Church of Christ. From Caesarea, Gregory went to Alexandria, and then to Athens. The world spread out all its wealth before the young man, but also all its temptations.

On the threshold of adulthood, when he entered a new vast world, as a warning from God, a terrible storm broke out during Gregory's voyage on the sea, foreshadowing the future storms of life that awaited him. For twenty days, not hoping to stay alive, the youth Gregory lay in the stern, begging God that "the murderous waters of the sea would not deprive him of the purifying waters of baptism." It was then that the young man made a vow to God to devote all of himself, his whole life only to Him. And if his first striving for God was a tribute to obedience to his mother, then this vow is already a conscious and voluntary choice of the narrow and sorrowful path to follow God.

It is impossible to keep silent about the miraculous revelation given to Gregory by God at this tragic time of his life. It was revealed to the young man that it was his mother's prayer that forbade the elements from destroying him. One of Gregory's companions, who was making this journey with him, saw how during a storm Gregory's mother approached the ship, took the ship with an imperious firm hand and led it to a quiet harbor. Soon after that, the elements calmed down.

And Gregory, having survived the storm in his soul, understood that his life and death were entirely in the hands of God. And he entered the capital of the empire, into the noisy world, as a man hidden in his heart. And he lived in it as in the desert. His food was the food of the desert, his clothing was the garment of need. He lived near the imperial court, but did not look for anything at the court.

Later the saint recalled: "For me a piece of bread is pleasant, I have a sweet seasoning – salt; and sober drink is water. My best wealth is Christ."

And if Christ is the main thing in life, then all life is subordinate to Him. Therefore, living in a great city full of temptations, Gregory knew only two paths: the first and most excellent led to the church, the second to the teachers of secular sciences.

The Lord sent to reinforce the young man with a friend, like-minded person and co-sacrament Basil, who was later called the Great. Thus the two of them began to grow from strength to strength, learning to submit their spirit to God, and their flesh to the spirit.