“Schoolrooms for Our Souls”. The Cult of the Martyrs: Homilies and Visual Representations as a Locus for Religious Education in Late Antiquity1

Abstract

Focusing on the role of the martyr as example, this article analyses the process of religious and spiritual education which took place in the context of the martyr cult in Cappadoda and Pontus in ca. 350‐400 AD. The message that the martyr embodied in an examplary way Christian values and hence was worthy of imitation, was conveyed in a double way: orally and visually. Orally this happened in the homilies, delivered during the annual feasts, held in the martyr's sanctuary; visually this message was conveyed via the wall‐paintings in this sanctuary. Given the strenghts and weaknesses of both ways of communication, it becomes clear that they formed valuable complements to one another. 1 Abbreviations: GCS: Griechische christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten Jahrhunderte; GNO: Gregorii Nysseni Opera (the so‐called “Leiden edition"); LCL: Loeb Classical Library; PG: Patrologja Graeca; RAC: Reallexikon fiir Antike und Christentum; SO. Sources Chrétiennes.