02Knights Templar - Julian Emperor

SAINTS
Constantinople convened in 381 AD by the emperor
Theodosius.This council reiterated the Nicene Creed and reestablished,
with the approval of Theodosius himself, that it
was the official and accepted doctrine of the Church.Although
the views of the Orthodox Church which St Gregory had represented
were now the dominant force within Christianity,
tensions still existed within Constantinople. St Gregory left
the city believing that his work there was finished and returned
to Nazianzus where he acted as bishop for a time. He
later retreated from public work and offices and spent his later
years pursuing study and writing poetry and his own life
story. He died at Nazianzus on 25 January 389 AD. He is considered
to be one of the four great Eastern Doctors of the
Church.
St Basil the Great
It is clear that this well-known Eastern Christian saint was a
member of a family with strong religious beliefs. He was born
in 330 AD in Caesarea and his grandmother Macrina the
Elder, his mother Emmelia, his father Basil the Elder, his
brothers Peter of Sebaste and Gregory of Nyssa and his sister
Macrina theYounger are all also recognised as saints. He enjoyed
an excellent education at some of the best schools of the
time including those of Athens and Constantinople. Whilst
studying in Athens he met Gregory of Nazianzus. Both young
men also met the future Roman emperor, Julian the Apostate,
who abandoned Christianity and embraced the older pagan
religious traditions of the ancient world, thus earning his famous
epithet. Basil became a monk and spent time in both
Syria and Egypt. In 358 AD he became a hermit at Neo-
Caesarea.
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