Companions in Cappadocia: Reflecting on the Cappadocian Fathers
Today, we are in Cappadocia! Cappadocia is a beautiful region in the south of Turkey; not a metropolitan city by any means but rather a combination of small towns in a beautiful desert region. The scenery is gorgeous with the rolling hills and simple architecture which hasn’t changed much in two thousand years. The small, scattered villages throughout this region preserve a natural cohesion with the national environment because the houses and buildings are built into the towers of rock. The volcanic rock formed into pillars from years of erosion was deposited by volcanic lava and ash two million years ago. Notwithstanding the geological history, the history of Christianity is just as rich. Many early Christians who lived here were no less than the illustrious Cappadocian Fathers: Gregory of Nyssa, Basil the Great, and Gregory Nazianzen.
This morning, a group of seminarians traveled with Fr. Kasule to a nearby field in hopes of going for a hot air balloon ride and watching the sunrise. I was struck by the noble simplicity as we watched the sun come up and as we looked to the east, we prayed to the Son of God, the source of our hope; intoned in the beauty of the rising sun. How lucky are we, to see the same sunrise that many of the Saints have experienced. Dare we hope to reach their heights of friendship, brotherhood, shared faith, and the common mission in the priesthood?
Despite the poor weather that didn’t allow us to ascend to the heights, we were able to pray Morning Prayer together and contemplate the Divine Presence in the beauty of the scenery. To be here is to be in awe and wonder just like Gregory of Nyssa who said, “Concepts create idols; only wonder comprehends anything. People kill one another over idols. Wonder makes us fall to our knees.” How true! In a time of division and polarity, these saints are a reminder to us that the truth of Christianity is to be in awe and wonder. This theme was well articulated by Fr. Guthrie in his homily today as he celebrated mass in an ancient Christian cave church “The sky is thin here; how beautiful is it to be in such a place where we see the divine and human meet.”
Regardless of the poor ballooning weather, on the ground (and under the ground), the weather was perfect! We were lucky enough to have mass in the only cave church that is open for mass (out of 1,000 cave churches in the area), a site that was visited by my personal hero, Karol Wojtyła (St. John Paul II). Some of the seminarians had prepared a piece in Gregorian chant, which echoed beautifully off the walls of the ancient cave. We hiked the saw-toothed mounts, enjoyed a pleasant lunch together, and visited an underground city where Christians hid from the warring Romans and Turks in the first millennium. As we travel together, many of us share the sentiment which St. Gregory of Nazianzen had for his friend, St. Basil. Gregory sentimentally shares that “[our friendship was] the kindling of that flame that was to bind us together. In this way, we began to feel affection for each other. […] We became everything to each other: we shared the same lodging, the same table, the same desires, the same goal. Our love for each other grew daily warmer and deeper.” Dare we hope to grow in this mutual fraternity? We might not be as perfect as the Cappadocians, but they never had to kick the jet lag!
-Jacob Francois, Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa
