The Fourth Book of the Maccabees as background of Oratio XV by st. Gregory of Nazianzen

Based on a comparative analysis of 4Mac and Oratio XV, it can be noted that St. Gregory – when composing the speech in honor of the martyrs – used mostly apocryphal work depicting history of the martyrdom of Eleazar as well as of the seven brothers and their mother rather than the canonical 2Mac. This is evidenced by quite clear convergence of both works: their authors use the same vocabulary to characterize their heroes and describe the instruments of torture; they employ the same agonist-military metaphors; they include the motive of martyrs’ death as a sacrifice purifying the Jewish people etc. The fact that St. Gregory used 4Mac in composing Oratio XV can evidence quite high popularity and reputation that 4Mac enjoyed among Christians of Cappadocia in his time (i.e. in 4th century)