The Scottish Episcopal Church has affinity with the Eastern Orthodox Churches and includes many of their saints in the Church Calendar of the SEC. The link seems to stem from Columcille, Abbot of Iona who looked to the eastern Church for wisdom and practise.
Bishop Basil was bishop of Caesaria in Asia Minor, now modern day Turkey. He strongly supported the use of the Nicene Creed. His brother was Gregory of Nyassa, and together, the three of them became known as the Cappodocian Fathers, as they lived in Cappodocia. Basil of Caesaria, also known as Basil the Great, was a stickler for the Rule in monastic life and encouraged its use amongst the Religious. He was also a great supporter of the poor and underprivileged. Gregory of Nazianzus was Archbishop of Constantinople and a noted theologian of his day; an accomplished speaker of the patristic age. He is attributed with being an influence on the development of the Church of Byzantium. The three are known today as Teachers of the Faith in the Church.
Sitting in church today I noticed some of the wall plaques which one passes regularly and hardly reads. Above are the Stations of the Cross, which take precedence of one's attention on the walls. One of the plaques was of a former church member, a young man of 19 yrs of age who was killed in France on his third day there during WW1. How sad, but what a sacrifice, and for what?
He was the sacrificial lamb of his young day. His life had only just begun. What were his hopes and aspirations? He sat in the pews as I do today, but full of youthful hope, which was dashed. Although I do not know him, his name springs out at me. I pray for his soul that it may have light eternal with God. He was the innocent abroad, yet to me he has left a message as strong as perhaps the Cappodocian Fathers, and it is +Desmond Tutu's message: 'Love is greater than hate'.
