Two Brothers at the River

PLUMP young Gregory, eight years old, not yet the hollow cheeked Nyssa, as on icons–
DRYLY his older brother asks: “Surely you will not jump in again?”
BASIL, older brother, not yet the Great, as in history,
TEASEs lovingly. Today: two young brothers, an idle afternoon, playing on a river’s bank.
Later, two fathers, Cappadocian, cold waters of the Halys long since dried off.


Note: I’m imagining Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa as young brothers, in their hometown of Caesarea of Cappadocia–now Kayseri in Turkey–spending an afternoon on what was then called the river Halys in Greek.


Icon of Basil the Great
Icon of Basil the Great. Click image for Wikipedia entry.

Icon of Gregory of Nyssa
Icon of Gregory of Nyssa. Click Image for Wikipedia entry.

More from Wikipedia:


View of Kayseri, Turkey (Caesarea in Cappadocia in Roman times), with mountain in background.
View of present day Kayseri (Caesarea of Cappadocia in Roman times).
Attribution: By Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany – Mount Erciyes (Argaeus), Turkey, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75293164

Leave a comment