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The Social Class of the Cappadocian Fathers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Thomas A. Kopecek
Thomas A. Kopecek
Affiliation:
Mr. Kopecek is assistant professor of religion and classics in Central College, Pella, Iowa.
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Extract

Although the past two decades have shown signs of scholarly interest in the social history of fourth- and fifth-century Christianity, especially among British scholars, much remains to be done before a synthetic reconstruction will be justified. Among the tasks to be completed is the determination of the social class backgrounds of the later empire's Christian clergy. For if these backgrounds can be established, it will be possible to investigate how extensively they influenced the clerics' thought and action. Unfortunately, the determination of social origins in antiquity is not always a straightforward enterprise. This is particularly true in the case of the Cappadocian Fathers, whose social class membership is the topic of the present essay.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 42 , Issue 4 , December 1973 , pp. 453 - 466
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1973

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References

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32. Although it might be objected that there is no evidence that either of the Amphilochii actively served on any municipal curia, lack of evidence does not necessarily mean that the two men did not serve. But if they did not, it would not have been unusual. Both were lawyers (Gregory, of Nazianzus, Anth. Pal. 8: 135Google Scholar and Epp. 9 and 13), and lawyers of curial families were known for finding ways to evade curial service, as is clear from a series of laws which sought to correct the situation (CT 12:1:46, CT 12:1:98, CT 12:1:116, and so forth).

33. Gregory of Nazianzus, Or. 18: 33, terms Eusebius tōn prōtōn par autois [the Caesareans] héna. Libanus Gregory's contemporary, regularly refers to principales as hoi prōtoi or t` prōta (see Petit, p. 83) and terms their primacy of rank their prōteia (for example, Libanius, Or. 14: 46, with Or. 14: 5: 31).

34. See CT 12:1:50 of March 13, 362 and Gregory of Nazianzus, Or. 18: 34.

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42. See supra, n. 15.

43. Such a likelihood presupposes that the class as a whole was heavily Christianized in the fourth century. This seems, in fact, to have been the case. See Basil, , Epp. 228, 227, 230, 229, 28, 182, 183, 97Google Scholar, Homilia in Gordium 2–3, Homilia in Martyrem Julittam 1–2 Sozomen, , H. E. 5: 4Google Scholar; Gregory of Nazianzus, Orr. 4: 92 and 18: 34, 35, Epp. 40 and 41; Julian, Ep. 35 (Wright).

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47. Compare Tollinton, 1: 47.

48. Eusebius, , H. E. 6: 26–27.Google Scholar

49. Ibid., 6: 3.

50. Gregory, of Nyssa, V. Gr. Thaum. (PG 46: 905C).Google Scholar

51. Ibid. (PG 46: 900A).

52. Thaumaturge, Gregory, Pan. Or. 5.Google Scholar

53. Gregory, of Nyssa, V. Gr. Thaum. (PG 46: 933C).Google Scholar

54. Ibid. (PG 46: 936B.D).

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56. See Eusebius, , H. E. 7: 32: 27–28Google Scholar and V. C. 4: 43; Basil, , Epp. 81 and 244.Google Scholar

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58. Ivanka, p. 39.

59. Ibid., p. 40.

60. Ibid., p. 41.

61. Quoted, supra p. 60. See also Gregory of Nyssa, who writes, “When he [Gregory Thaumaturge] had completed the entire educational sequence (pasan p´ideusin of Greek learning (tés éxō sophiάs), he meet Firmilian, an aristocratic Cappadocian … (Gregory, of Nyssa, V. Gr. Thaum. [PG 46: 905CGoogle Scholar]).”

62. Meyer, Eduard, Geschichte des Königreichs Pontos (Leipzig, 1879)Google Scholar; Reinach, Theodore,Mithridate Eupator: Roi de Pont (Paris, 1890).Google Scholar

63. Strabo, , Geogr. 12: 2: 7–9.Google Scholar

64. Compare Jones, A. H. M., The Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces (2nd rev. ed.; Oxford, 1971), pp. 167ffGoogle Scholar; Jones, A. H. M., The Greek City: From Alexander to Justinian (Oxford, 1940), pp. 60–63Google Scholar; Broughton, T. R. S., “Roman Asia Minor,” in Frank, Tenny, ed., An Economic Survey of Ancient Rome (Baltimore, 1938), 4: 530–533.Google Scholar

65. Basil, , Ep. 258.Google Scholar

66. . Ibid.

67. Cumont, Franz, Les Mages Hellénisées (Paris, 1938), 1: 66Google Scholar, 2: 88, n. 2.

68. He may be depending on the work of André Grabar, who, in a volume published two years before Ivanka's study, argued that Christian martyria were modelled after pagan heroa. Grabar, André, Martyrium: Recherches sur le Culte des Reliques et l' Art Chrétien Antique (Paris, 1946), especially pp. 141–203Google Scholar. If this be the ease, Ivanka is unjustified in his claims, since “pagan” for Grabar means “hellenistique et romaine”, not Persian. In fact, Grabar compares the church described by Gregory, of Nyssa, Ep. 25Google Scholar, to an ancient mausoleum depicted on a fresco at Pompeii!

69. Strzygowski, Josef, Kleinasien: Ein Neuland der Kunstgeschichte (Leipzig, 1903), pp. 76–77.Google Scholar

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71. Gregory of Nazianzus, Or. 43: 3.

72. Gregory, of Nyssa, V. Macr. (Jaeger, 8, 1: 376, 380 and 393)Google Scholar; Gregory, of Nyssa, Laud. in XL Mart. (PG 46: 784).Google Scholar

73. Treucker, pp. 9–10, and p. 10 n. 21.

74. Ibid., p. 10.

75. For a variety of other objections, some possessing considerable merit, see Stanislas Giet, “Basile, était-il Sénateur,” pp. 429–444.

76. Gregory's panegyric—that is, Or. 43—was written on the occasion of Basil's death.

77. Gregory, of Nyssa, V. Macr. (Jaeger, 8, 1: 410).Google Scholar

78. Gregory of Nazianzus, Or. 7: 8–10.

79. Gregory, of Nyssa, V. Macr. (Jaeger, 8, 1: 380).Google Scholar

80. It is natural that Basil's mother owned property in these three provinces, for her husband's mother came from Neocaesarea in Pontus Polemoniacus (Basil, , Epp. 204 and 210Google Scholar), a city in which her husband had taught grammar and rhetoric and had practiced law (Gregory of Nazianzus, Or. 43: 12, 17 and Gregory, of Nyssa, V. Macr. [Jaeger, 8, 1: 376Google Scholar]), her own family was from Cappadocia (Gregory of Nazianzus, Or. 43: 3), and her husband's ancestral estates at Annesi were in Helenopontus. See Ramsay, W. M., The Historical Geography of Asia Minor (3rd ed.; London, 1894), p. 326.Google Scholar

81. The fact that no evidence exists which indicates that either Basil or Gregory of Nyssa actively served as a curial does not constitute a valid objection to our conclusion. They were the sons of a professor of literature (Gregory of Nazianzus, Or. 43: 12, 17) and as such enjoyed legal immunity from curial service (see CT 13:3:3).

82. Jones, , Later Roman Empire, pp. 925ff.Google Scholar