Program / Course 8: God, Trinity, and Creation / Lesson 5.2
What you will learn
- Give a short account of the life and work of each of the three Cappadocian fathers.
- Name a major work of each and the main contribution it makes to the doctrine of God.
- Explain how the three differ in style and emphasis while holding a common faith.
- Describe how the tradition has honored them and where their thought is still debated.
The big idea
The Cappadocian fathers were three friends and relatives from central Asia Minor who, in the second half of the fourth century, gave Trinitarian theology its mature shape. Basil was a bishop, organizer and defender of the Spirit’s divinity. Gregory of Nazianzus was an orator and poet who preached the Trinity with unusual force. Gregory of Nyssa, Basil’s younger brother, was a philosopher and mystic who explored how God can be known and not known. Together they show that the Nicene faith was not only defended but understood more deeply.
Key terms
- Cappadocia
- A region in central Asia Minor, now in Turkey. Home to the three fathers.
- Theologian (as a title)
- In the East, a title given to John the Evangelist, Gregory of Nazianzus and Symeon the New Theologian for their teaching about the Trinity.
- Asceticism
- A way of life that disciplines the body and desires for the sake of prayer and love. Basil shaped early monastic practice.
- Epektasis
- A word from Gregory of Nyssa, from Philippians 3:13, meaning straining forward. The idea that the soul’s journey into God is without end.
- Apokatastasis
- A Greek word meaning restoration. The idea that in the end all will be restored to God. Associated with Origen and, some say, with Gregory of Nyssa; condemned by a later council.
- Oration
- A formal speech or sermon. Gregory of Nazianzus’s Orations are treasured works of Greek prose.
- Church Father
- An early Christian writer whose teaching the church regards as a reliable witness to the faith.
- Doctor of the Church
- In the Catholic Church, a title given to a saint whose teaching is judged of great importance. Basil and Gregory of Nazianzus are both Doctors.
Background
Cappadocia was a rural region far from the great cities. It was nevertheless the home of a Christian family of unusual quality. Basil and Gregory of Nyssa came from a family in which their grandmother Macrina the Elder, their mother Emmelia, their sister Macrina the Younger and their brother Peter of Sebaste were all venerated. Gregory of Nazianzus, from a nearby town, was the son of a bishop of the same name. Basil and Gregory of Nazianzus studied together in Athens in the 350s and formed a close friendship.
They lived in an age of Arian pressure. Basil was elected bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia in 370 and spent his years in office resisting the Arian emperor Valens, caring for the poor, and trying to keep the Nicene party together. Gregory of Nazianzus was made bishop of a small town named Sasima against his will, and later preached in Constantinople to a small Nicene congregation. Gregory of Nyssa was made bishop of Nyssa in about 372, was removed for a time by Arian opponents, and rose to prominence after Basil’s death in 379.
The three had different gifts. Basil was a leader and administrator. Gregory of Nazianzus was a master of Greek style, whose orations and poems are among the best from antiquity. Gregory of Nyssa was the most original thinker, with strong debts to Origen and Plato, which he reworked in a Christian direction. Their relationships were not always easy, since Basil’s decisions sometimes strained his friendship with Gregory of Nazianzus. Yet their common teaching is remarkably consistent.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: Basil of Caesarea (about 330 to 379)
Basil was educated in Caesarea, Constantinople and Athens. After studying, he gave up worldly ambitions and spent time among monks in Egypt and Syria. Back in Cappadocia, he established a community and wrote guides for monastic life known as the Asketikon, which became the basis of monasticism in the Eastern church and influenced Benedict of Nursia in the West. When he became bishop, he built a large complex of buildings for the care of the sick and poor, sometimes called the Basiliad.
As a theologian, Basil wrote Against Eunomius, an answer to the extreme Arian who said that human reason could comprehend God’s essence, and On the Holy Spirit, which defended the Spirit’s divinity from Scripture and from the church’s worship. He also wrote letters that spelled out the distinction of ousia and hypostasis. He was careful and pastoral in his theology, and sometimes cautious in how openly he called the Spirit God, in order to avoid splitting the Nicene party.
Step 2: Gregory of Nazianzus (about 329 to 390)
Gregory is known in the East as the Theologian. He was sensitive, eloquent and uncomfortable in church politics. In 380 and 381 he led the small Nicene community in Constantinople and delivered the Theological Orations, five sermons which defend the Nicene doctrine of the Son and the Spirit. In them he insists that theology is not for every kind of discussion but requires purity of life and prayer, and he teaches that God can be known truly but not fully. In Oration 31 he says plainly that the Spirit is God, and he addresses the objection that Scripture does not say so by arguing that revelation unfolds in stages.
Gregory also wrote against Apollinarius, who taught that Christ had no human mind. His line, widely quoted, is that what is not assumed is not healed, meaning that the Son had to take a complete human nature for all of humanity to be saved. After presiding briefly over the council of 381, he resigned and retired to his family estate, where he wrote poetry and letters. He is thus both a witness to the Trinitarian faith and a teacher of the Incarnation.
Step 3: Gregory of Nyssa (about 335 to after 394)
Gregory of Nyssa is the speculative genius of the group. He wrote against Eunomius at length, and the treatise To Ablabius, which defends the unity of the Godhead. His Great Catechism is an orderly summary of Christian teaching for instructors, covering the Trinity, creation, the Incarnation and the sacraments. In the Life of Moses and the Commentary on the Song of Songs he teaches that the soul’s ascent to God never ends, since God is infinite. He calls this the endless stretching forward (epektasis) of the soul.
On the Soul and the Resurrection, a dialogue with his sister Macrina, argues for the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body. Some of his writings suggest that all will in the end be restored to God, a view called apokatastasis. Scholars disagree about how firmly he held this, and whether he meant it as a hope, a speculation or a doctrine. The Second Council of Constantinople in 553 condemned a form of universalism associated with Origen, and Gregory of Nyssa has still been honored as a father in East and West.
Step 4: What they hold in common
The three agree on a number of central points. God is one in being and three in persons. The persons are distinguished by their origins and their relations, not by differences of nature. God is incomprehensible in essence yet truly known in the divine activities. The Spirit is God and is to be worshiped. And salvation involves a sharing in God’s life that the three describe in terms of participation or divinization.
They also share a commitment to Scripture read with care, within the church’s worship. Their works are filled with biblical quotation. They are not simply philosophers who borrowed from Plato, though they used what they found useful. Their legacy lies in showing how the Nicene faith can be defended without giving up the mystery of God.
- Which of the three gifts, organizing, speaking or thinking, do I most admire in a teacher?
- What does it mean to say that theology requires purity of life?
- Why is the line what is not assumed is not healed so powerful?
- How can the soul’s journey to God be both complete and without end?
- Why might friends disagree even when they share a faith?
- What can I learn from Basil’s care for the poor as part of his ministry?
Examples
The Basiliad
Basil founded a complex outside Caesarea for the sick, poor and strangers, with doctors and nurses. Gregory of Nazianzus described it as a new city. Care for the poor was, for Basil, a part of Christian doctrine and not an addition to it.
Not assumed, not healed
Gregory of Nazianzus argued against Apollinarius that if Christ did not take a human mind, then the human mind was not saved. The Son took a whole human nature so that he might heal it. The line is quoted in later discussions of the Incarnation.
Endless ascent
In the Life of Moses Gregory of Nyssa pictures Moses climbing Sinai and entering the cloud. The more he knows God, the more he finds that God exceeds all knowing. Gregory takes this as a picture of the soul’s life, always moving on toward the infinite God.
Different perspectives
Orthodox
Orthodox tradition honors Basil and Gregory of Nazianzus, together with John Chrysostom, as the Three Holy Hierarchs, and keeps Gregory of Nyssa as a saint and father. The three are regarded as the architects of Trinitarian doctrine. Orthodox theologians often read Gregory of Nyssa as a mystic of divine infinity.
Catholic
Catholics honor all three as saints. Basil and Gregory of Nazianzus are Doctors of the Church. Gregory of Nyssa is a saint and church father, though not formally a Doctor. Catholic theology has used them extensively, and Aquinas cites them regularly.
Protestant
Protestants cite the Cappadocians mainly for the doctrine of the Trinity and for Basil’s pastoral work. Calvin quotes Basil and Gregory of Nazianzus with respect. Protestants differ in the degree to which they treat the fathers as authoritative.
Scholarly debate
Scholars debate several points: how far the Cappadocians depended on Platonism, whether Gregory of Nyssa taught universal restoration, and whether the letters ascribed to Basil on ousia and hypostasis are his. Jaroslav Pelikan’s The Christian Tradition gives a standard account of their part in shaping the Eastern doctrine of the Trinity.
Why it matters
The Cappadocians show that doctrine is developed by people, in friendship, with pastoral duties and sometimes with disagreement. They also show different ways of serving the faith: through organization and charity, through eloquence, and through contemplation. For a student, reading them gives a sense of how the Trinity was lived and prayed as well as defined.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: The three Cappadocians were a single school and agreed on everything.
Correction: They shared a faith and a vocabulary, but they differed in style, emphasis and sometimes in judgment of church affairs. Scholars compare their differences carefully.
Misunderstanding: Gregory of Nyssa was condemned as a heretic.
Correction: He has been honored as a father in East and West. The Second Council of Constantinople condemned teachings associated with Origen, and some have linked Gregory’s speculations to those, but he was never condemned.
Misunderstanding: The Cappadocians simply added Greek philosophy to the faith.
Correction: They used philosophical tools and in places criticized philosophy. Their argument always rested on Scripture and the church’s worship. How much they borrowed is an open historical question.
Misunderstanding: Basil was only a theologian.
Correction: He was also a monastic legislator, a bishop who fed the poor in famine, and a church politician. He is as famous for his charity as for his writings.
Knowledge check
Name one major work by each of the three Cappadocians.
Basil: On the Holy Spirit or Against Eunomius. Gregory of Nazianzus: the Theological Orations, or Oration 31 on the Spirit. Gregory of Nyssa: To Ablabius, the Great Catechism, the Life of Moses or On the Soul and the Resurrection. Any one correct title for each person is acceptable.
What was Basil’s contribution besides theology?
He wrote guides for monastic life, the Asketikon, which shaped Eastern monasticism and influenced Benedict. As bishop of Caesarea he built a large complex to care for the sick, poor and strangers. He treated care for the poor as part of the Christian life and not a separate matter.
What does the phrase what is not assumed is not healed mean?
Gregory of Nazianzus used it against Apollinarius, who said Christ had no human mind. He argued that if the Son did not take a full human nature, including mind, then that part of humanity was not saved. The Son had to become fully human to heal humanity entirely.
What is epektasis and who taught it?
It is the Greek term for stretching forward, from Philippians 3:13, and Gregory of Nyssa used it for the idea that the soul’s progress in God never ends. Because God is infinite, there is always more to know and love. He developed it in the Life of Moses.
Think it through
- Which of the three do you find most attractive and why?
- Is there a place in your own life where theology and service need to be joined?
- How might friendship help a person think about God?
Independent assignment
A portrait
In your own notebook, write about 450 words. Choose one of the three fathers and write a portrait. Say where he came from, what he did, what he wrote, and what he taught about the Trinity. Quote a short passage from one of his works in the library list below, and explain what it shows about him. Do not send this to anyone.
Further study
- Basil of Caesarea, On the Holy Spirit (De Spiritu Sancto) Read the opening chapters and chapters 26 to 29.
- Gregory of Nyssa, Dogmatic Treatises, etc. (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, vol. 5) Read selectively in the Trinitarian treatises.
- Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine (5 volumes) Read the section on the Cappadocians in volume one.
- Benedict of Nursia, The Rule of St. Benedict Compare Benedict’s rule with the monastic tradition Basil began.
- Justo L. Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity A narrative of the period.
- Philippians 3:13 Reaching forth unto those things which are before.
- Exodus 33:23 Moses sees God from behind, a text Gregory of Nyssa reads of the soul’s journey.
- Matthew 25:40 Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these.