The Cappadocian Fathers

Early Christian Times in Anatolia

Cappadocia is not only a wonder of nature with its strange rock formations. Cliff openings give access to cave dwellings, rock-cut churches, monasteries and underground cities hewn from the volcanic tuff during the earliest Christian era. They remind us of the very ancient history of Asia Minor when Cappadocia included Pontus and reached all the way down to the South, neighbouring Armenia Minor on the East.

Basil the Great, Gregor of Nyssa and Grogor of Nazianus
Very early on (probably 70 – 100 AD) there were Christians in Cappadocia. Already in the first letter from St. Peter – whether written under a pseudonym or not - the Cappadocians were mentioned as receivers. Later there were thriving Christian communities probably living under pressure and later under constant attacks from the East. At least this is the explanation usually given for the construction of the underground cities in the mountainous region in central Anatolia. Later the area became famous for its thriving theological milieu formed and organised by theologians and practical church organisers like the Cappadocian fathers – Basil the Great, Gregor of Nyssa and Gregor of Nazianzus.

Defenders of the Trinity
All three lived in the period from app. 330 to 390 AD, two were brothers and all three were friends. All three were ardent defenders of the Nicene dogma of the trinity and each left important marks on the Christian Church. From a theological point of view the writing of the two Gregors are the most important, but from a practical point of view the importance of the work and writings of Basil the Great had an enormous impact. After having studied for a long time, he lived for a while among the Egyptian eremites on the East bank of the Nile. His experiences prompted him later to found proper monasteries in his home region, and he wrote the first formal set of monastic rules, which later inspired Benedict of Nursia in his work. These church institutions became famous for their involvement in local charity, their character of hospitals and hostels. 

Monastery from 386-1923
Today the churches and monasteries in Cappadocia are cared for as far as the economy allows, but only as cultural remains. The reason is that what used to be vibrant Christian communities until 1923 were overnight wiped out in connection with the treaty of Lausanne, which organised a huge displacement of the Christian and Muslim minorities in respectively Greece and Turkey. 1.5 million Greek-speaking Christians from these regions whose ancestors had lived here for more than two millennia were exchanged with half a million Turkish-speaking Muslims from Greece, who were similarly expelled. One example of the consequences was the dissolution of the ancient Sümela Monastery, which was founded in 386 and finally abandoned in 1923. Today it is devoid of its life and nothing but a famous cultural sight in the region.