Becoming Christian: The Conversion of Roman Cappadocia

The Life to Come

The Life to Come The Life to Come In the Byzantine empire people knew exactly what the Cappadocian Fathers looked like, and they could readily recognize them in frescoes on the walls of their churches. Gregory of Nazianzus was not a big man. He was somewhat sallow along with his elegance, and his nose was flat. His eyebrows were placed in a straight line and his gaze was gentle and soft, with more gloominess in his right eye which a scar had pinched in the corner. His beard was not thick, but it was sufficiently shaggy. He was balding with white hair, and the tips of his beard peeked out as if blackened by smoke. Basil the Cappadocian was a tall man. The posture of his body was erect, and he was austere, with a dark complexion but mixed with paleness in his face. He had a long nose, with his eyebrows curled into a circle and his forehead squeezed together . His gaze was piercing, similar to that of a thinker, and his face wrinkled with a few creases. His cheeks were somewhat long, his temples were hollow, and his hair was clipped rather close. His beard reached down far enough and was partly gray. Gregory of Nyssa was similar to Basil in all respects except for the grayness, and he had more elegance. One intriguing feature of these descriptions is the blending of physical characteristicswith details of their personalities. Gregory of Nazianzus was gentle , while Basil looked stern and piercing. Gregory of Nyssa may have been more graceful than his peers, but in iconography as in life he was still just a reflection of his domineering older brother.' One reason later Byzantines deduced personalities from appearances was the absence of other information. Even when they recognized the Cappadocian Fathers, they did not know much about them. During their lifetimes the Cappadocian Fathers had had ambivalent relationships with their own pasts. By declining to discuss his many years as a student and rhetorician , Basil had simply ignored the entire first half of his life. Gregory of Nyssa was always aware of his junior standing within his own family,in part because his big sister Macrina and his big brother Basil kept belittling his talents. After their deaths he finallyhad the opportunity to tell his own story by writing a biography of Macrina and delivering a panegyric about Basil. Gregory of Nazianzus simply wallowed in his past. Since his father lived to be almost a centenarian, he had direct access to memories that stretched I n the Byzantine empire people knew exactly what the Cappadocian Fathers looked like, and they could readily recognize them in frescoes on the walls of their churches. Gregory of Nazianzus was not a big man. He was somewhat sallow along with his elegance, and his nose was flat. His eyebrows were placed in a straight line and his gaze was gentle and soft, with more gloominess in his right eye which a scar had pinched in the corner. His beard was not thick, but it was sufficiently shaggy. He was balding with white hair, and the tips of his beard peeked out as if blackened by smoke. Basil the Cappadocian was a tall man. The posture of his body was erect, and he was austere, with a dark complexion but mixed with paleness in his face. He had a long nose, with his eyebrows curled into a circle and his forehead squeezed together . His gaze was piercing, similar to that of a thinker, and his face wrinkled with a few creases. His cheeks were somewhat long, his temples were hollow, and his hair was clipped rather close. His beard reached down far enough and was partly gray. Gregory of Nyssa was similar to Basil in all respects except for the grayness, and he had more elegance. One intriguing feature of these descriptions is the blending of physical characteristics with details of their personalities. Gregory of Nazianzus was gentle , while Basil looked stern and piercing. Gregory of Nyssa may have been more graceful than his peers, but in iconography as in life he was still just a reflection of his domineering older brother.1 One reason later Byzantines deduced personalities from appearances was the absence of other information. Even when they recognized the Cappadocian Fathers, they did not know much about them. During their lifetimes the Cappadocian Fathers had had ambivalent relationships with their own...