Cappadocian Fatherswriter
Who he was
- He was metropolitan of Amasea in Pontus.
- He was a contemporary of Amphilochius and his three great countrymen (the Three Cappadocians: Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa).
- Little is known about his life.
- He had been a lawyer before becoming bishop.
- Photius found evidence that Asterius attained a great age.
What he wrote
- Sixteen homilies and panegyrics on martyrs show his training in rhetoric and his familiarity with the classics. - One, Adversios Kalendarum festum, condemns the pagan customs. - Oration II, On the Martyrdom of St. Euphemia, is important for the history of art. Asterius describes a painting of the martyrdom of this saint and compares it with the works of Euphranor and Timomachus. The Second Council of Nicaea in 787 quotes the entire text twice as a precious proof of the veneration of holyicons.