Abstract

Prior to the advent of the Cappadocian Fathers – Basil of Caesarea (cf Nazianzus (329–89), and Basil’s brother Gregory of Nyssa (c.335–c.395) – Cappadocia, to the north-east of modern Turkey, seems to have been something of a cultural backwater. Hence comes the epigram, ‘It is as hard to teach turtles to fly as to teach Cappadocians to write good Greek’. The three Fathers came from very respectable and prosperous families, and at any rate two of them received a good classical education in the university of Athens for about five years. An elaborate account of their life is provided by Gregory of Nazianzus’ Oration 43, a panegyric of his friend and younger contemporary, Basil.