Early Church Leaders: The Great Cappadocians

The Great Cappadocians

Not for all, my friends, not for all is it to philosophize about God, since the subject is neither that simple nor that lowly. Not for all, nor before all, nor at all times, nor on all themes, but rather before some, at some times and with some bounds- GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS

The region of Cappadocia was in Eastern Anatolia, lands that now belong to Turkey. There lived three church leaders known as the Great Cappadocians: Basil of Caesarea, the theologian known as “The Great”; his brother Gregory of Nyssa, famous for his works on mystical contemplation; and their friend Gregory of Nazianzus, a poet and orator, whose many hymns have become traditional in the Greek-speaking church. But before turning our attention to them, justice requires that we deal with another person just as worthy, although often forgotten by historians who tend to ignore the work of women. This remarkable woman was Macrina, the sister of Basil and Gregory of Nyssa, and someone who should certainly be counted among the Great Cappadocians.

MACRINA

The family in which Macrina, Basil, and Gregory were raised had deep Christian roots reaching back at least two generations. Their paternal grandparents had spent seven years hiding in the forest during the Decian persecution. In that exile, they were accompanied by several members of their household, including their two sons, Gregory and Basil. Gregory (who subsequently became the uncle of our Cappadocians) was a bishop.

His brother Basil, the father of Macrina and her brothers, became a famous lawyer and teacher of rhetoric. His wife was the daughter of a Christian martyr. Thus, the grandparents of our Cappadocians, both on the maternal and paternal sides, had been Christians, and one of their uncles a bishop.His brother Basil, the father of Macrina and her brothers, became a famous lawyer and teacher of rhetoric. His wife was the daughter of a Christian martyr. Thus, the grandparents of our Cappadocians, both on the maternal and paternal sides, had been Christians, and one of their uncles a bishop.

Macrina was twelve years old when her parents decided to make arrangements for her marriage, as was then customary. They settled on a young relative who was planning to become a lawyer, and Macrina acquiesced. Everything was ready when the groom died, quite unexpectedly. Thereafter, Macrina refused to accept any other suitor, and eventually vowed herself to celibacy and to a life of contemplation. Some two or three years before Macrina’s engagement, Basil had been born. He was a sickly child whose survival was in doubt for a time. The elder Basil, who had always wanted a son, gave this one the best education available, in the hope that he would continue in his father’s footsteps as a lawyer and orator. Young Basil studied first at Caesarea, the main city in Cappadocia; then in Antioch and Constantinople; and finally in Athens. It was in the ancient Greek city that he met Gregory, who would eventually become bishop of Nazianzus, as well as Prince Julian, later dubbed “the Apostate.”

Macrina, her mother, and several other women withdrew to Annesi while Basil, following the desires of his sister, left for Egypt in order to learn more about the monastic life. Since Basil eventually became the great teacher of monasticism in the Greek-speaking church, and since it was Macrina who awakened his interest in it, it could be said that she was the founder of Greek monasticism.

Macrina spent the rest of her life in monastic retreat in Annesi. Years later, shortly after Basil’s death, their brother Gregory of Nyssa visited her. Her fame was such that she was known simply as “the Teacher.” Gregory left a record of that visit in his dialogue with her, On the Soul and the Resurrection, the main arguments and assertions of which may well have been Macrina’s.

He opens that work by informing us that “Basil, great among the saints, had departed from this life and gone to God, and all the churches mourned his death. But his sister the Teacher still lived and therefore I visited her.” Gregory, however, was not easily consoled on finding his sister suffering from a severe asthma attack on her deathbed. “The sight of the Teacher,” he wrote, “reawakened my pain, for she too was about to die.”

She let him shed his tears and express his pain, and then consoled him, reminding him of the hope of resurrection. Finally, she died in great peace. Gregory closed her eyes, led the funeral service, and went out to continue the work that his sister and brother had entrusted to him.

BASIL THE GREAT

Years earlier, Basil had returned from Egypt, Palestine, and other lands where he had gone to study the monastic life, and had settled near Annesi. He and his friend Gregory of Nazianzus founded a community for men similar to the one Macrina had created for women. He believed that community life was essential, for one who lives alone has no one to serve, and the core of monastic life is service to others. He himself made it a point to undertake the most disagreeable tasks in the community. He also wrote rules to be followed in the monastic life. Since all the legislation in the Greek church regarding monastic life is based on the teachings of Basil, he is usually regarded as the father of Eastern monasticism.

But Basil had lived as a monk for little more than six years when he was ordained a presbyter against his will. He soon had conflicts with the bishop of Caesarea, and rather than creating greater difficulties decided to return to his monastic community. He remained there until Valens became emperor. Since the new emperor was Arian, the bishop of Caesarea decided to set aside his differences with Basil and call on the holy monk to assist him in the struggle against Arianism.

Finally, the emperor arrived. When he took a bountiful offering to the altar, thus showing his favor to the city, no one went forth to receive it. The emperor had to wait for the bishop, who finally accepted his offering, making it very clear that it was he who was favoring the emperor.

After these events, Basil was able to devote his time to his tasks as a bishop. He was particularly interested in organizing and spreading the monastic life, and in advancing the Nicene cause. Through a vast correspondence and several theological treaties, he made a significant contribution to the reaffirmation of trinitarian doctrine and the definitive rejection of Arianism. But, like Athanasius, he was unable to see that final victory, for he died a few months before the Council of Constantinople confirmed the Nicene doctrine in 381.

GREGORY OF NYSSA

Basil’s younger brother, Gregory of Nyssa, was of a completely different temperament. While Basil was tempestuous, inflexible, and even arrogant, Gregory preferred silence, solitude, and anonymity. He had no desire to become the champion of any cause.

Although he had a solid education, it was not of the quality of Basil’s. For a time, he wanted to be a lawyer and a rhetorician, but he did not embrace these goals with great enthusiasm.

Whereas Basil and his friend Gregory of Nazianzus fervently took up monastic life, Gregory of Nyssa married a young woman with whom he seems to have been very happy. Years later, after his wife died and he too had taken the monastic life, he wrote a treatise titled On Virginity, which featured arguments characteristic of him. According to him, he who does not marry does not have to suffer the pain of seeing his wife going through childbirth nor the greater pain of losing her. For him, the monastic life was a way to avoid the pains and struggles of active life. He became known for his mystical life and for the writings in which he described that life and gave directives for those wishing to follow it.

But the struggles of the time were too urgent and too bitter to pass by a person such as Gregory. His brother Basil forced him to become bishop of Nyssa, which was little more than a village. Valens and the Arians continued using all their power against the orthodox party. Such strife was too much for Gregory, who went into hiding. But in spite of this, after the death of both Valens and Basil, Gregory became one of the main leaders of the Nicene party. As such he was received by the Council of Constantinople in 381.

Although he was a quiet and humble person, his writings show the inner fire of his spirit. And his careful explications of Nicene doctrine contributed to its triumph in Constantinople.

After that great council, Emperor Theodosius took him as one of his main advisors in theological matters, and Gregory was thus forced to travel throughout the empire, and even to Arabia and Mesopotamia. Although there was great value in this work, Gregory always saw it as a hindrance, keeping him away from the life of contemplation.

Finally, being assured that the Nicene cause was firmly established, Gregory returned to the monastic life, hoping that the world would leave him alone. In this he was so successful that the date and circumstances of his death are not known.

GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS

The other great Cappadocian theologian was Gregory of Nazianzus, whom Basil had met when they were fellow students.

Gregory was the son of the bishop of Nazianzus, also called Gregory, and his wife Nona—for at that time bishops were often married. The elder Gregory had been an Arian, but Nona had brought him to orthodoxy. As in the case of Basil, Gregory’s family was very devout, to such a point that many of them have subsequently received the title of “saint”Gregory himself, his parent Gregory the elder and Nona, his brother Caesarius, his sister Gorgonia, and his cousin Amphilochius.

Gregory spent most of his youth in study. After some time in Caesarea, he went to Athens, where he remained some fourteen years, and where he met both Basil and Prince Julian. He was thirty years old when he returned to his home country and joined Basil in the monastic life. Meanwhile, his brother Caesarius had become a famous physician in Constantinople, where he served both Constantius and Julian without letting himself be moved by the Arianism of the former or the paganism of the latter.

ght to be said about the Holy Spirit. Thus, it was this council that definitively proclaimed the doctrine of the Trinity. Its decisions, and the theology reflected in them, were in large measure the result of the work of the Cappadocian Fathers. In this regard, their main contribution was in clarifying the difference between ousia (“essence”) and hypostasis—a word that literally means “substance” but which the Cappadocians defined as the translation of the Latin persona. Thus, the Latin West and the Greek East came to agree on a common formula: one essence—or ousia—in three persons—or hypostases.

It is difficult for us today to understand the vehemence with which people in the fourth century debated such matters, and we tend therefore to discount them as the heated lucubrations of overzealous theologians. But we should not dismiss the matter so easily. That the debate profoundly touched people’s lives is indicated in Gregory of Nazianzus’s comment, that one could not even get one’s shoes repaired without getting into a discussion regarding whether the Son was homoousios or homoiousios to the Father. At the other end of the social spectrum, for fifty years after the Council of Nicea most emperors embraced the Arian cause and staunchly opposed the Nicene. What was at stake was much more than idle speculation. Ultimately, the issue was, can God truly be present in a carpenter executed by the empire as a criminal, or is God more like the emperor on his throne? One should not wonder, then, that so many emperors preferred the Arian view. Eventually, a compromise was reached whereby the Carpenter was declared to be truly divine, but was now represented much more often as the exalted Pantokrator—the exalted emperor sitting on a throne and ruling the entire world—than as a carpenter.