A Just and Reasonable Grief: The Death and Function of a Holy Woman in Gregory of Nyssa's Life of Macrina

This paper examines the key theological views that governed fourth-century interpretations of "the holy woman" in ascetic communities. Specifically, it looks at Gregory of Nyssa's portrayal of Macrina in De Vita Macrinae as one whose asceticism and virginity allow her to experience proleptically the eschatological communion with Christ. It is Macrina's self-mastery and transcendence of worldly concerns in anticipation of her union with Christ that mediate Christian hope to her community of virgins and so train them in the proper way to live and to face death.