188 Chapter 4 thus more special. In the last linguistic metaphorical expression (chapter 67), Gregory is said to have reached the ‘summit’.638 So there, the hagiographer expresses the idea that Gregory cannot even climb up any further, but he has cultivated his politeia to perfection. Another implication of metaphorical thinking in terms of life/politeia and journey for the conceptualisation of sainthood is that the path of virtuous conduct leads somewhere. In the example of chapter 67 discussed above, the idea is expressed that the virtuous conduct of Gregory is what leads him to heaven. This progress towards an ideal politeia is thus necessary for another aspect of sainthood: saints are thought to reside in the same space as God and the angels after their deaths. Although there seems not to have been a systematically developed and consistent theology of what happens to souls after the body dies,639 the widespread belief in the Last Judgement in Christian thought, also evident in the middle-Byzantine period, is inconsistent with the idea that souls could immediately ascend to heaven after people die.640 The Last Judgement requires that only at the end of time a final judgement of souls would be made, sending souls either to heaven or hell. This view thus also implies a belief in an intermediate, post-mortal state for souls between death and the Last Judgement.641 Saints, however, were thought to reside together with God, and thus would be exceptions, going up to heaven immediately after they die. This gives them an even more special status compared to other (dead) humans. They alone had direct access to God and could therefore function as intercessors, helping the living in their life on earth and on behalf of their future salvation.642 The mappings from the source domain of travel towards the target domain of life and politeia thus mainly reflect two conceptions, which are both related to the construction of Gregory’s sainthood. Firstly, living a life of virtue is a difficult process (in which the saint succeeds), and secondly, this way of life is the reason that the saint ascends directly to heaven. By using metaphorical language reflecting these ideas, the hagiographer represents Gregory as an exemplar through his politeia, but as an exemplar that is difficult to imitate. Additionally, the metaphorical language represents Gregory as a potential intercessor. Thus, also in his choice of metaphorical language, the hagiographer represents Gregory performing two key functions of saints. This metaphorical travel language is not unique to the Life of Gregory. Similar linguistic metaphorical expressions are found in the Lives of Euthymius the Younger and of Elias the Younger. Moreover, the conceptual metaphors most likely reflect language use of the 638 εἰς ἐκείνην ἀνέδραμε τὴν τῶν ὀρεκτῶν κορυφήν; he ran up to that summit of the things longed for. Life of Gregory 67, lines 2-3. 639 And this is not a topic that the hagiographer discusses elaborately. 640 The belief in the Last Judgement is evinced e.g., by its visual representations in Byzantine art, see e.g., Brubaker (2009); Bergmeier (2020). 641 This issue has been discussed in Marinis (2016); Muehlberger (2019). 642 For the process of transformation in late antiquity in which people came to belief that Heaven and Earth were joined in the figures of saints and came to belief in the potency of their dead bodies, see Brown (1981).
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