ABSTRACT
In the year 380 Gregory of Nyssa was emerging as a dynamic theologian. While engaged in the heated Trinitarian controversy of the early 380s he composed the Life of Macrina. The Life of Macrina served effectively as a castigation of Eunomius because the hagiographical tract coincided with rhetorical images of him as one who shunned the life of ascetic withdrawal in favour of public acclaim and worldly pleasures. Gregory mocked his adversary as a sensationalist, a mere entertainer suited for theatrics, but not theology. The Life of Macrina challenged Eunomius' theology because its heroines and heroes subverted Eunomius' belief that the nature of God could be explained merely through reason. The Life read as a human model of a multi-functional divinity. A final function of the Life relates to its spiritual imagery. The portrait of Gregory's family in the Life reflected the nuances of the Nicene doctrine of God versus the formula articulated by Eunomius.
