Emily Chesley: The Mercy of Macrina the Younger: Nyssa’s Portrait of Societal Service

This paper nuances the academic conversation on Macrina the Younger, re-analyzing Gregory of Nyssa’s portrayal of her in De Vita Macrinae Virginis and De Anima et Resurrectione in light of his homilies on the Beatitudes and Ecclesiastes, bringing to light the practices of mercy pervading Macrina’s life. Macrina has received comparatively little academic attention in recent years, and those scholars who do treat her have predominantly interpreted her as an exemplary philosophical teacher or withdrawn virgin ascetic. While these remain aspects of Nyssa’s portrait, they nevertheless present an incomplete sketch for he consistently presents his sister engaged in social practices of mercy. He describes her meeting the needs of the hungry and the sick, taking on voluntary poverty, giving largesse to the impoverished, and abolishing social hierarchy in favor of equality—each a central element of the social justice he advocates to his congregations. This paper revisits Nyssa’s hagiography of Macrina in light of his homiletical teachings on acts of mercy, bringing to light the societal elements of Macrina’s life and the thematic consistency in Nyssa’s pastoral teaching. The accepted narrative of Macrina is challenged and nuanced, as it is revealed that Nyssa presents his sister as an ideal practitioner of mercy, actively engaged with the needs of the world.