Fourth Century Oratory
and Epistolography,
as represented by the Cappadocian Fathers
Introduction to the Page
Two families of Cappadocia provided, from the 350s to the late
fourth century, some significant representatives of Christianity
collectively known as the 'Cappadocian Fathers.' The brothers Basil
of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa, together with their, but especially
Basil's, friend Gregory of Nazianzus, remain the best known bishops
of the period between Athanasius and John Chrysostom in the East, and
eclipsing in their fame even the bishops of Rome; Ambrose of Milan is
perhaps the only contemporary whose name is as well-known. Like the
others mentioned here, with the exception of Athanasius, the
Cappadocians were classically trained in rhetoric and other branches
of late antique education; their speeches can therefore serve as
examples of the genre in this period. Because all three were also
bishops involved in the governance of fourth-century Christianity,
their speeches, as well as their letters, are useful evidence for
Christian politics in this period; this is especially true because
Gregory of Nazianzus and Basil were more than once violently upset
with each other on such issues, though they managed to remain,
beneath it all, close friends.
Other Reading
Brown, P. Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity. Towards a
Christian Empire. Madison, 1992.
Pelikan, J. Christianity and Classical Culture. The Metamorphosis
of Natural Theology in the Christian Encounter with Hellenism.
New Haven, 1993.
Rousseau, P. Basil of Caesarea. Berkeley and Los Angeles,
1994.
Ruether, R.R. Gregory of Nazianzus. Rhetor and Philosopher.
Oxford, 1969.
The texts available by following the links are,
except where otherwise noted, drawn from the various volumes of the
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. Electronically scanned versions of
these are available at a number of places on the World Wide Web; the
translations themselves are in the public domain, but the electronic
texts retain such elements as the original page numbers of the print
edition and footnote numbers, though the notes themselves are not
always in evidence. Though one must be grateful for the existence of
these electronic versions, the texts also contain omissions, spelling
errors and other little annoyances. Several Internet sites offer
versions of some of the texts in various stages of correction of the
originals; occasionally, even, the footnotes have been restored. I
have chosen to offer versions where the original pagination and note
references have been removed entirely, since these are not likely to
be of any use to readers of the electronic texts. I have also removed
section and/or paragraph numbers within texts or portions of texts if
the electronic text records them inconsistently; I hope one day to
restore them, for ease of citation, but for the moment, readers will
need to consult the print version for detailed citation or use the
larger divisions. Following my practice in other texts, I have
thought it advisable to present larger units of text with internal
links rather than a larger number of smaller units. Thus, a single
file offers several letters, for example, not one, unless only one is
being made available.
J. Vanderspoel, Department of Greek, Latin
and Ancient History, University of Calgary
Texts Available for this
topic
|
Gregory of
Nazianzus
|
Basil of
Caesarea
|
|
|
|
|
Gregory of
Nyssa
|
|
|
Map of eastern Asia
Minor
Detailed map of
Cappadocia
Family
trees
To the more detailed study (available only to U of
C users)
The
Bishop, The Orator, The Philosopher. Basil and Gregory in Christian
Service
List of
Texts available on this site
Last modified 23 February 1998