The Nicene Age · AD 313–400
Emmelia of Caesarea
c. 300 – c. 375 · Mother of the Cappadocians · Cappadocia / Pontus
The Nicene Age
Who Emmelia of Caesarea was
Daughter of a martyr and mother of ten children — among them Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, Macrina the Younger, Peter of Sebaste, and Naucratius — Emmelia is honoured as the matriarch of a household the Eastern church counts, remarkably, as producing several saints at once. Widowed, she was led by her eldest daughter Macrina into a life of ascetic renunciation on the family estate at Annisa, turning the household into a proto-monastic community. Gregory of Nyssa lovingly recorded her holy death beside Macrina. The mother in whom a family of theologians was rooted.
Also listed in women.
Common questions
When did Emmelia live?
Emmelia of Caesarea is dated c. 300 – c. 375 in the archive, which places Emmelia in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
Which early sources mention Emmelia?
Emmelia of Caesarea is named in 2 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Emmelia from?
The archive associates Emmelia of Caesarea with Cappadocia / Pontus.
Who were Emmelia’s contemporaries?
The archive links Emmelia of Caesarea to 6 other figures, including Macrina the Elder, Macrina the Younger, Basil the Great and Peter of Sebaste. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Primary-source mentions (2)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Gregory of Nazianzus, Epitaphs (on Emmelia, mother of saints)
c. AD 380[The epitaph makes her distinction the children: a mother of bishops and of a saint, praised for what came after her.]Gregory of Nazianzus · Epitaph on Emmelia
Gregory of Nazianzus's epitaphs and epigrams are printed in Migne, Patrologia Graeca 38. Many of them, though not all, were gathered as book VIII of the Palatine Anthology, for which the standard text with facing English is W. R. Paton, The Greek Anthology, vol. 2, Loeb Classical Library 68 (1917), public domain.
Life of Macrina
c. AD 380Their mother Emmelia… when she had reared her children in piety, ended her life in the same discipline, her daughter Macrina supporting her head; and she blessed each of her children by name.Gregory of Nyssa · source text
Connected in the archive
People
- Macrina the Elder
- Macrina the Younger
- Basil the Great
- Peter of Sebaste
- Naucratius of Annisa
- Chrysapius of Annisa
Events in this lifetime
- AD 306 · The Council of Elvira, AD 306
- AD 311 · Galerius’ edict of Serdica, AD 311
- AD 313 · The Edict of Milan, AD 313
- AD 314 · The Council of Arles, AD 314
- AD 320 · Silvanus tried before Zenophilus, AD 320
- AD 325 · The Council of Nicaea, AD 325
- AD 339 · The persecution of Shapur II, AD 339
- AD 343 · The Council of Serdica, AD 343
- AD 361 · Julian’s pagan restoration, AD 361
- AD 366 · Damasus and the catacomb epigrams, AD 366
- AD 367 · Athanasius lists the 27 NT books, AD 367
- AD 372 · The martyrdom of Sabbas the Goth, AD 372
Place
Places served
The 2 places the sources put Emmelia, in the order the record moves through them. This is what the sources attest, not a reconstructed route.
- 1Cappadociaprovince only
- 2Pontusprovince only