Bowen remembers reading about a 'Somebody of Mopsuestia' and supposes Bellairs could have changed the name deliberately. "I suspect he just mis-remembered it -- and this is the kind of 'historical writing' in which it isn't really necessary to get all the details right. Wherever Mopsuestia was, I doubt that it could have harbored two Greek Fathers.

Scenario: Gregory sits in the tavern, idly jotting down a new insight on the action of grace, when a shadow falls across his scroll. He looks up to encounter the grim stare of Theodore, who leans ominously on his stout staff. "Listen up, kid," growls the senior theologian. "Mopsuestia isn't big enough for both of us. You know the way to Ephesus. I don't want the sun to set on your miter -- you got that?

"If you want to know how menacing those Greek theologians could look, just visit an Orthodox church some day and take a look at the icons."