Sickness Shaped the Faith of This Family of Fourth-Century Theologians

The most famous siblings of the early church are likely two brothers, Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa, and their sister Macrina. “She was deeply precious to them for her love, her insight, and her wisdom; they even called her “Teacher,” wrote David Hutchings for Christianity Today last year. Macrina ultimately died after a long battle with an unknown illness. Her life and suffering inspired several works by Gregory of Nyssa, including the Life of Macrina and On the Soul and the Resurrection.

On this episode of Prayer amid Pandemic, Amy Brown Hughes, assistant professor of theology at Gordon College and author of Christian Women in the Patristic World: Their Influence, Authority and Legacy in the Second Through Fifth Centuries, along with Lynn H. Cohick, discusses Basil, Macrina, and Gregory’s remarkable family, why Macrina’s death made such an impression, and what the church needs to hear from them today.

Karen Stiller, author of The Minister’s Wife: a memoir of faith, doubt, friendship, loneliness, forgiveness and more, and editor of Faith Today magazine, is based in Canada, offers this episode’s prayer.