Our Fathers Among the Saints, the Ecumenical Teachers Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom.
This common feast of these three teachers was instituted a little before the year 1100, during the reign of the Emperor Alexis I Comnenus, because of a dispute and strife that arose among the notable and virtuous men of that time. Some of them preferred Basil, while others preferred Gregory, and yet others preferred John Chrysostom, quarrelling among themselves over which of the three was the greatest. Furthermore, each party, in order to distinguish itself from the others, assumed the name of its preferred Saint; hence, they called themselves Basilians, Gregorians, or Joannites. Desiring to bring an end to the contention, the three Saints appeared together to the saintly John Mauropus, a monk who had been ordained Bishop of Euchaïta, a city of Asia Minor; they revealed to him that the glory they have at the throne of God is equal, and told him to compose a common service for the three of them, which he did with great skill and beauty. Saint John of Euchaïta (celebrated Oct. 5) is also the composer of the Canon to the Guardian Angel, the Protector of a Man’s Life. In his old age, he retired from his episcopal see and again took up the monastic life in a monastery in Constantinople. He reposed during the reign of the aforementioned Emperor Alexis Comnenus (1081–1118). The Kontakion for their service is a slightly modified version of that of Saints Peter and Paul on June 29, whereby Saint John intimates the apostolic dignity and greatness of these teachers.
The above account is taken from the Great Horologion,
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