Caesarius of Cappadocia — a Physician and Philosopher of Late Antiquity. Part II

The study of the life of Caesarius of Cappadocia, a physician and statesman, is very revealing for the formation of the image of a physician belonging to the upper classes of society in the period of late Antiquity. Archpriest Georges Florovsky wrote about the aspiring ancient world that entered under the vaults of the Church, about its great longing and great pride. At that time, the world had “one Empire, one world language, one culture, one common development towards monotheism, and one common longing for the Savior.” The ancient world was the environment in which the Christian gospel first sounded, and it was this world that gave the world many of the most famous Christian saints. Among them were iatroi (Greek), or medici (Latin), that is, professional doctors, the first representatives of the Roman intelligentsia who became Christians. A major role in Caesarius’s choice of his path, combining public service and a philosophical ascetic way of life (in the words of his elder brother, “a philosophical life under the cloak”), was played by the metropolitan Neoplatonic philosopher and politician Themistius (317–388), a courtier of the Emperor Constantius. Themistius not only promoted such a path, but also, by personal order of Constantius, actively attracted educated young people who were drawn to philosophy to social and political activity. This was an alternative to the direction of solitude and asceticism that Basil and Gregory, Caesarius’ brother, had chosen in their youth, having been attracted by the opportunity to combine philosophy with monastic asceticism (they called Christianity “our philosophy”, in the image of ancient philosophers). One of the main principles of Themistius’ philosophy was the combination of political and social activity with philosophical life. Gregory says that Caesarius had a “philosophical soul” and lived the life of a philosopher at court.