"They went about in sheepskins ... destitute and persecuted and mistreated -- the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith ..." (Heb 11:37-39)
In Cappedocia (yes, the one mentioned in the Bible) early monks in the Orthodox tradition formed monastic communities, both men and women, to deepen their faith. These became educational as well as ascetic, and shaped the early life of the church. They literally carved homes and chapels and refectories from the very sandstone, frescoing the interiors in the symbols and stories of the gospel, turning the desert into a faithful city.
Into this environment Ray Bakke, Robert Calvert and I took our class to examine the influence of the Cappedocian Fathers, St Basil and others who so shaped the faith and practice of the church as Christianity began to deal with the rise of Islam in the fourth through sixth centuries, a very contemporary issue again today.
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