SYNAXIS OF THE ECUMENICAL TEACHERS BASIL THE GREAT, GREGORY THE THEOLOGIAN, AND JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

Unlike Western Christianity, the Orthodox Church never sought to “tie” its teachings to the authority of any particular Church Father or great theologian. The common feast of Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, and John Chrysostom is a great exception. Perhaps, were it not for the catastrophes of the Orthodox peoples in the first half of the twentieth century, the Synaxis of the Ecumenical Teachers, like other such feasts, would have been destined to fall into oblivion over time. However, today it is a very significant and truly exceptional celebration, rich in both historical and theological connotations.

1, On February 12, the Orthodox Church commemorates Saints Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom. This celebration is called the Synaxis of the Ecumenical Teachers. The joint celebration in honor of the Three Hierarchs was established in 1084 in Constantinople under Emperor Alexius I Comnenus (1056–1081). According to liturgists and Church historians, the reason for the introduction of this feast was the disputes that arose in the Church of Constantinople among the hierarchy and theologians about which of the three great Fathers of the Church had primacy. The establishment of a joint celebration then meant that the saints had equal authority in the Orthodox Church.

2, The Greek word “Synaxis” in this case “assembly” or “gathering”. It indicates that on this day, the highest clergy of the Church of Constantinople had to perform a special solemn liturgical service. Thus, the local Church would gather together to honor the joint memory of the saints. Ancient liturgical calendars testify that such common celebrations in honor of the fathers and teachers of the Church constituted an important part of the liturgical life of Orthodox Christianity. Many of these celebrations have been forgotten or lost in history, bur quite a few have survived. Firstly, and very importantly, twelve days before the Synaxis of the Three Saints the Synaxis of the Two Saints is celebrated: Athanasius and Ciril of Alexandria. At one time, a third great bishop of Alexandria may have been added to them: John the Merciful (550-620). Unlike Athanasius or Cyril, he was not a dogmatist. Like John Chrysostom, he was a good shepherd and great philanthropist. John was the last Greek Orthodox Bishop of Alexandria before the Persian and the Arab conquest of Egypt. For some reason his name has not been preserved in the January commemoration of the bishops of Alexandria. Finally, the third such celebration is the joint commemoration of Saints Jerome and Augustine on June 28 (15). It appeared in the calendar much later, associated, as they say, with the activities of Saint Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain (1749-1809), who supplemented the Orthodox calendar with the names of great saints who were not yet included in it. Thus, a synaxis in honor of the great Fathers of the Western Church was created. But few people paid any attention to this. Thus, the memory of Athanasius and Cyril, the memory of Jerome and Augustine, andof course the memory of Basil, Gregory, and John are companion holidays. This is an amazing echo of the life of the Ancient Church that has come down to us.

3, Liturgy historians also say that the “Three Saints” originally had an anti-Latin contextualization. The Church of Constantinople was then at the peak of its hierarchical power. At the same time, the mutual alienation between East and West in the 11th-12th centuries was becoming increasingly apparent. Therefore, in order to prevent the Byzantines from seeking theological and philosophical insights in the contemporary West, this feast of the three Ecumenical Fathers was supposedly established. Be that as it may, the phenomenon of “Parisian Orthodoxy” in the 20th century gave this commemoration its true greatness. Back then, in the 1920s and 1930s, a huge number of Russian Orthodox Christians found refuge in Paris and France after the Russian Revolution and Civil War. A meeting between East and West took place. The feast of the Three Hierarchs became a symbol of the unity of Orthodox Christians around the ancient Fathers of the Church. The main Orthodox church of the Moscow Patriarchate in Paris was then dedicated to the Three Hierarchs, and the feast itself became a symbol of Orthodox communion. Many clergy and theologians, among them the remarkable Russian Orthodox priest and former dean of the St. Sergius Institute in Paris, Nikolai Ozoline (born 1942), were ordained on this very festive day at this parish. Thus, a celebration that may have originally been a marker of the division between East and West became a sign of the Orthodox presence and the ecumenical dialogue in the Western diaspora.