For slightly more than 100 years after Nicaea, theologians, most of them writing in Greek, worked out in a long and bitter debate what was to be the distinguishing doctrine of Christendom, the Trinity. Chief among them were Athanasius, the assertive bishop of Alexandria, and three church leaders from Cappadocia, Asia Minor ​ — Basil the Great, his brother Gregory of Nyssa, and their friend Gregory of Nazianzus.
ग्रीक भाषेतील नेझिएनससचा ग्रेगरी आणि जॉन क्रायसॉस्टम (अर्थात “सुवर्ण - मुखी ”) तसेच लॅटिन भाषेतील मिलानचा अॅब्रोस व हिप्पोचा ऑगस्टीन हे अगदी निपुण वक्‍ते होते; त्यांच्या काळातील कला क्षेत्रातल्या सर्वात आदरणीय व लोकप्रिय कला प्रकाराचे ते पंडित होते.