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Thomas Kopecek wrote this essay “to investigate the extent to which this value [civic patriotism] of the social circles to which the Fathers belonged influenced their thought and action as clerics” (293). He goes about this by concentrating on the civic actions of three of the older Cappadocian Fathers, Bishop Gregory the Elder of Nazianzus, Bishop Gregory the Younger, and Bishop Basil of Caesarea. He explores each of their impacts in the communities apart from their clerical positions. Kopecek opens the body of his essay showing the elder Gregory’s civic patriotism by the grand church he had built during his time as bishop. Kopecek points out that the reason the building is sign of his civic duty is not he building itself, but rather the means by which it was funded. Rather than asking church patrons or raising money, Gregory the Elder paid for the amazing structure almost entirely out of pocket. Kopecek continues saying that in some societies this would still not be considered civic patriotism, however in Cappadocia its was very common for the curial class, which was what Gregory belonged to before becoming pope, to buil