158-426: Autocephaly recognized by some autocephalous Churches de jure : Autocephaly and canonicity recognized by Constantinople and 3 other autocephalous Churches: Spiritual independence recognized by Georgian Orthodox Church: Semi-Autonomous: Gregory of Nazianzus ( Greek : Γρηγόριος ὁ Ναζιανζηνός , romanized : Grēgorios ho Nazianzēnos ; c. 329 – 25 January 390), also known as Gregory
316-576: A Hypsistarian , to Christianity; he was subsequently ordained as bishop of Nazianzus in 328 or 329. The young Gregory and his brother, Caesarius , first studied at home with their uncle Amphylokhios. Gregory went on to study advanced rhetoric and philosophy in Nazianzus, Caesarea , Alexandria , and Athens . On the way to Athens his ship encountered a violent storm, and the terrified Gregory prayed to Christ that if He would deliver him, he would dedicate his life to His service. While at Athens, he developed
474-577: A Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the world's oldest recorded living language . Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now-extinct Anatolian languages . The Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods: In the modern era, the Greek language entered
632-427: A panegyric that it was delivered, as Julian had done on January 3, when Libanius was speaking, and ignore the chariot races. He then tried to address public criticism and mocking of him by issuing a satire ostensibly on himself, called Misopogon or "Beard Hater". There he blames the people of Antioch for preferring that their ruler have his virtues in the face rather than in the soul. Julian's fellow pagans were of
790-779: A band of Franks who had taken control of some abandoned forts along the river Meuse . In 358, Julian gained victories over the Salian Franks on the Lower Rhine , settling them in Toxandria in the Roman Empire, north of today's city of Tongeren , and over the Chamavi, who were expelled back to Hamaland . At the end of 357 Julian, with the prestige of his victory over the Alamanni to give him confidence, prevented
948-577: A basis for coinages: anthropology , photography , telephony , isomer , biomechanics , cinematography , etc. Together with Latin words , they form the foundation of international scientific and technical vocabulary ; for example, all words ending in -logy ('discourse'). There are many English words of Greek origin . Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The ancient language most closely related to it may be ancient Macedonian , which, by most accounts,
1106-521: A big show of games. In the spring of 361, Julian led his army into the territory of the Alamanni, where he captured their king, Vadomarius . Julian claimed that Vadomarius had been in league with Constantius, encouraging him to raid the borders of Raetia . Julian then divided his forces, sending one column to Raetia, one to northern Italy and the third he led down the Danube on boats. His forces claimed control of Illyricum and his general, Nevitta, secured
1264-458: A burdensome and corrupt bureaucracy within the Imperial administration whether it involved civic officials, secret agents or the imperial postal service. Another effect of Julian's political philosophy was that the authority of the cities was expanded at the expense of the imperial bureaucracy as Julian sought to reduce direct imperial involvement in urban affairs. For example, city land owned by
1422-559: A clear idea of what he wanted Roman society to be, both in political as well as religious terms. The terrible and violent dislocation of the 3rd century meant that the Eastern Mediterranean had become the economic locus of the Empire. If the cities were treated as relatively autonomous local administrative areas, it would simplify the problems of imperial administration, which as far as Julian was concerned, should be focused on
1580-456: A close friendship with his fellow student Basil of Caesarea , and also made the acquaintance of Flavius Claudius Julianus, who would later become the emperor known as Julian the Apostate . In Athens, Gregory studied under the famous rhetoricians Himerius and Proaeresius . He may have been baptized there, or shortly after his return to Cappadocia. In 361, Gregory returned to Nazianzus and
1738-470: A divided mind about this habit of talking to his subjects on an equal footing: Ammianus Marcellinus saw in that only the foolish vanity of someone "excessively anxious for empty distinction", whose "desire for popularity often led him to converse with unworthy persons". On leaving Antioch he appointed Alexander of Heliopolis as governor, a violent and cruel man whom the Antiochene Libanius ,
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#17327723073931896-457: A dramatic speech to Theodosius asking to be released from his offices. The emperor, moved by his words, applauded, commended his labor, and granted his resignation. The Council asked him to appear once more for a farewell ritual and celebratory orations. Gregory used this occasion to deliver a final address ( Or. 42) and then departed. Returning to his homeland of Cappadocia, Gregory once again resumed his position as bishop of Nazianzus. He spent
2054-499: A eulogy at her funeral. Following the deaths of his mother and father in 374, Gregory continued to administer the Diocese of Nazianzus but refused to be named bishop. Donating most of his inheritance to the needy, he lived an austere existence. At the end of 375, he withdrew to a monastery at Seleukia , living there for three years. Near the end of this period his friend Basil died. Although Gregory's health did not permit him to attend
2212-508: A faster, more convenient cursive writing style with the use of ink and quill . The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each with an uppercase ( majuscule ) and lowercase ( minuscule ) form. The letter sigma has an additional lowercase form (ς) used in the final position of a word: In addition to the letters, the Greek alphabet features a number of diacritical signs : three different accent marks ( acute , grave , and circumflex ), originally denoting different shapes of pitch accent on
2370-496: A friend of the emperor, admits on first thought was a "dishonourable" appointment. Julian himself described the man as "undeserving" of the position, but appropriate "for the avaricious and rebellious people of Antioch". Julian's rise to Augustus was the result of military insurrection eased by Constantius's sudden death. This meant that, while he could count on the wholehearted support of the Western army which had aided his rise,
2528-588: A great rhetorical contest of the Caesarean church precipitated by the arrival of accomplished Arian theologians and rhetors. In the subsequent public debates, presided over by agents of the Emperor Valens , Gregory and Basil emerged triumphant. This success confirmed for both Gregory and Basil that their futures lay in administration of the Church. Basil, who had long displayed inclinations to the episcopacy,
2686-590: A lesser extent, in the Western Mediterranean in and around colonies such as Massalia , Monoikos , and Mainake . It was also used as the official language of government and religion in the Christian Nubian kingdoms , for most of their history. Greek, in its modern form, is the official language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population. It is also the official language of Cyprus (nominally alongside Turkish ) and
2844-400: A limited but productive system of compounding and a rich inflectional system. Although its morphological categories have been fairly stable over time, morphological changes are present throughout, particularly in the nominal and verbal systems. The major change in the nominal morphology since the classical stage was the disuse of the dative case (its functions being largely taken over by
3002-570: A march further eastward, Julian's army turned south to Circesium at the confluence of the Abora (Khabur) and the Euphrates arriving at the beginning of April. Passing Dura on 6 April, the army made good progress, bypassing towns after negotiations or besieging those which chose to oppose him. At the end of April the Romans captured the fortress of Pirisabora , which guarded the canal approach from
3160-473: A massacre of most of Julian's close relatives. Constantius II allegedly ordered the murders of many descendants from the second marriage of Constantius Chlorus and Theodora, leaving only Constantius and his brothers Constantine II and Constans I , and their cousins, Julian and Constantius Gallus (Julian's half-brother), as the surviving males related to Emperor Constantine. Constantius II, Constans I, and Constantine II were proclaimed joint emperors, each ruling
3318-459: A mixed syllable structure, permitting complex syllabic onsets but very restricted codas. It has only oral vowels and a fairly stable set of consonantal contrasts . The main phonological changes occurred during the Hellenistic and Roman period (see Koine Greek phonology for details): In all its stages, the morphology of Greek shows an extensive set of productive derivational affixes ,
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#17327723073933476-465: A portion of Roman territory. Julian and Gallus were excluded from public life, were strictly guarded in their youth, and given a Christian education. They were likely saved by their youth. If Julian's later writings are to be believed, Constantius would later be tormented with guilt at the massacre of 337. Initially growing up in Bithynia , raised by his maternal grandmother, at the age of seven Julian
3634-485: A rhetor or philosopher? Would a monastic life be more appropriate than public ministry? Was it better to blaze his own path or follow the course mapped for him by his father and Basil? Gregory's writings illuminate the conflicts which both tormented and motivated him. Biographers suggest that it was this dialectic which defined him, forged his character, and inspired his search for meaning and truth. Gregory's most significant theological contributions arose from his defense of
3792-476: A role in his decision to go to war. On 5 March 363, despite a series of omens against the campaign, Julian departed from Antioch with about 65,000–83,000, or 80,000–90,000 men (the traditional number accepted by Gibbon is 95,000 effectives total), and headed north toward the Euphrates . En route he was met by embassies from various small powers offering assistance, none of which he accepted. He did order
3950-528: A rule of terror over the territories under his command, was executed. Julian was summoned to Constantius' court in Mediolanum ( Milan ) in 354, and held for a year, under suspicion of treasonable intrigue, first with his brother and then with Claudius Silvanus ; he was cleared, in part because Empress Eusebia intervened on his behalf, and he was permitted to study in Athens (Julian expresses his gratitude to
4108-401: A senior officer in the imperial guard, who was obliged to cede territory, including Nisibis , in order to save the trapped Roman forces. Julian and Jovian were the last sole emperors to rule the whole Empire for their entire reign, after which it was permanently divided between a Western and Eastern court. Julian was the last non-Christian ruler of the Roman Empire, and he believed that it
4266-512: A significant impact on the shape of Trinitarian theology among both Greek and Latin -speaking theologians, and he is remembered as the "Trinitarian Theologian". Much of his theological work continues to influence modern theologians, especially in regard to the relationship among the three Persons of the Trinity. Along with the brothers Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa , he is known as one of
4424-460: A state of diglossia : the coexistence of vernacular and archaizing written forms of the language. What came to be known as the Greek language question was a polarization between two competing varieties of Modern Greek: Dimotiki , the vernacular form of Modern Greek proper, and Katharevousa , meaning 'purified', a compromise between Dimotiki and Ancient Greek developed in the early 19th century that
4582-634: A tax increase by the Gallic praetorian prefect Florentius and personally took charge of the province of Belgica Secunda . This was Julian's first experience with civil administration, where his views were influenced by his liberal education in Greece. Properly it was a role that belonged to the praetorian prefect. However, Florentius and Julian often clashed over the administration of Gaul. Julian's first priority, as Caesar and nominal ranking commander in Gaul,
4740-592: A villa for his residence; Gregory immediately transformed much of it into a church, naming it Anastasia, "a scene for the resurrection of the faith". From this little chapel he delivered five powerful discourses on Nicene doctrine, explaining the nature of the Trinity and the unity of the Godhead. Refuting the Eunomian denial of the Holy Spirit's divinity, Gregory offered this argument: Look at these facts: Christ
4898-587: Is born, the Holy Spirit is His Forerunner. Christ is baptized, the Spirit bears witness to this ... Christ works miracles, the Spirit accompanies them. Christ ascends, the Spirit takes His place. What great things are there in the idea of God which are not in His power? What titles appertaining to God do not apply also to Him, except for Unbegotten and Begotten? I tremble when I think of such an abundance of titles, and how many Names they blaspheme, those who revolt against
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5056-497: Is evidence to suggest that Julian may have at least partially stimulated the insurrection. If so, he went back to business as usual in Gaul, for, from June to August of that year, Julian led a successful campaign against the Attuarian Franks. In November, Julian began openly using the title Augustus, even issuing coins with the title, sometimes with Constantius, sometimes without. He celebrated his fifth year in Gaul with
5214-683: Is native to Greece , Cyprus , Italy (in Calabria and Salento ), southern Albania , and other regions of the Balkans , Caucasus , the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor , and the Eastern Mediterranean . It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system is the Greek alphabet , which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek
5372-997: Is sometimes called aljamiado , as when Romance languages are written in the Arabic alphabet. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Greek: Transcription of the example text into Latin alphabet : Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English: Proto-Greek Mycenaean Ancient Koine Medieval Modern Julian the Apostate Julian ( Latin : Flavius Claudius Julianus ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Ἰουλιανός Ioulianos ; 331 – 26 June 363)
5530-763: Is still used internationally for the writing of Ancient Greek . In Greek, the question mark is written as the English semicolon, while the functions of the colon and semicolon are performed by a raised point (•), known as the ano teleia ( άνω τελεία ). In Greek the comma also functions as a silent letter in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing ό,τι ( ó,ti , 'whatever') from ότι ( óti , 'that'). Ancient Greek texts often used scriptio continua ('continuous writing'), which means that ancient authors and scribes would write word after word with no spaces or punctuation between words to differentiate or mark boundaries. Boustrophedon , or bi-directional text,
5688-472: Is the eikon of the Father; and explained the concept of theosis , the belief that all Christians can be assimilated with God in "imitation of the incarnate Son as the divine model." Some of Gregory's theological writings suggest that, like his friend Gregory of Nyssa , he may have supported some form of the doctrine of apocatastasis , the belief that God will bring all of creation into harmony with
5846-518: Is the public manifestation of the process of deification ( theosis ), which leads to a spiritual elevation and mystical union with God. Julian resolved, in late 362, to vigorously prosecute Gregory and his other Christian critics; however, the emperor perished the following year during a campaign against the Persians. With the death of the emperor, Gregory and the Eastern churches were no longer under
6004-579: Is to modern spoken English ". Greek is spoken today by at least 13 million people, principally in Greece and Cyprus along with a sizable Greek-speaking minority in Albania near the Greek-Albanian border. A significant percentage of Albania's population has knowledge of the Greek language due in part to the Albanian wave of immigration to Greece in the 1980s and '90s and the Greek community in
6162-562: The British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (alongside English ). Because of the membership of Greece and Cyprus in the European Union, Greek is one of the organization's 24 official languages . Greek is recognized as a minority language in Albania, and used co-officially in some of its municipalities, in the districts of Gjirokastër and Sarandë . It is also an official minority language in
6320-917: The Cappadocian Fathers . Gregory of Nazianzus is a saint in both Eastern and Western Christianity . In the Catholic Church he is numbered among the Doctors of the Church ; in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches he is revered as one of the Three Holy Hierarchs , along with Basil the Great and John Chrysostom . He is considered one of the Great Fathers in both Eastern and Western Christianity. He
6478-529: The Chalcedon tribunal to deal with the corruption of the previous administration under the supervision of magister militum Arbitio . Several high-ranking officials under Constantius, including the chamberlain Eusebius, were found guilty and executed. (Julian was conspicuously absent from the proceedings, perhaps signalling his displeasure at their necessity.) He continually sought to reduce what he saw as
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6636-657: The European canon . Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts in science and philosophy were originally composed. The New Testament of the Christian Bible was also originally written in Greek. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world , the Greek texts and Greek societies of antiquity constitute the objects of study of the discipline of Classics . During antiquity , Greek
6794-527: The Fanar . During the six years of life which remained to him after his final retirement to his birthplace, Gregory composed the greater part of his copious poetical works. These include a valuable autobiographical poem of nearly 2,000 lines; about one hundred other shorter poems relating to his past career; and a large number of epitaphs, epigrams, and epistles to well-known people during that era. The poems that he wrote that dealt with his personal affairs refer to
6952-516: The Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ), but little definitive evidence has been found. In addition, Albanian has also been considered somewhat related to Greek and Armenian, and it has been proposed that they all form a higher-order subgroup along with other extinct languages of the ancient Balkans; this higher-order subgroup is usually termed Palaeo-Balkan , and Greek has a central position in it. Linear B , attested as early as
7110-517: The Rhine and encouraging the ravaged provinces' return to prosperity. In 360, he was proclaimed emperor by his soldiers at Lutetia (Paris), sparking a civil war with Constantius. However, Constantius died before the two could face each other in battle, having allegedly named Julian as his successor. In 363, Julian embarked on an ambitious campaign against the Sasanian Empire . The campaign
7268-566: The Sassanid emperor , Shapur II , invaded Mesopotamia and took the city of Amida after a 73-day siege. In February 360, Constantius II ordered more than half of Julian's Gallic troops to join his eastern army, the order by-passing Julian and going directly to the military commanders. Although Julian at first attempted to expedite the order, it provoked an insurrection by troops of the Petulantes , who had no desire to leave Gaul. According to
7426-580: The Semi-Arian assertion that the Son is homoiousios , or "like" the Father, Gregory and his fellow Cappadocians maintained the Nicaean doctrine of homoousia , or consubstantiality of the Son with the Father. The Cappadocian Fathers asserted that God's nature is unknowable to man; helped to develop the framework of hypostases , or three persons united in a single Godhead; illustrated how Jesus
7584-652: The United Kingdom , and throughout the European Union , especially in Germany . Historically, significant Greek-speaking communities and regions were found throughout the Eastern Mediterranean , in what are today Southern Italy , Turkey , Cyprus , Syria , Lebanon , Israel , Palestine , Egypt , and Libya ; in the area of the Black Sea , in what are today Turkey, Bulgaria , Romania , Ukraine , Russia , Georgia , Armenia , and Azerbaijan ; and, to
7742-468: The genitive ). The verbal system has lost the infinitive , the synthetically -formed future, and perfect tenses and the optative mood . Many have been replaced by periphrastic ( analytical ) forms. Pronouns show distinctions in person (1st, 2nd, and 3rd), number (singular, dual , and plural in the ancient language; singular and plural alone in later stages), and gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and decline for case (from six cases in
7900-417: The syntax of Greek have remained constant: verbs agree with their subject only, the use of the surviving cases is largely intact (nominative for subjects and predicates, accusative for objects of most verbs and many prepositions, genitive for possessors), articles precede nouns, adpositions are largely prepositional, relative clauses follow the noun they modify and relative pronouns are clause-initial. However,
8058-402: The "impostures of witchcraft and magic that cheat the senses" and "the works of conjurers who are insane men led astray into the exercise of earthly and material powers", Julian was intrigued, and sought out Maximus as his new mentor. According to the historian Eunapius , when Julian left Eusebius, he told his former teacher "farewell, and devote yourself to your books. You have shown me the man I
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#17327723073938216-597: The 1866 poem " Hymn to Proserpine ", which was Algernon Charles Swinburne 's elaboration of what a philosophic pagan might have felt at the triumph of Christianity. It also ends the Polish Romantic play The Undivine Comedy written in 1833 by Zygmunt Krasiński . As he had requested, Julian's body was buried in Tarsus. It lay in a tomb outside the city, across a road from that of Maximinus Daia. However, chronicler Zonaras says that at some "later" date his body
8374-566: The 20th century on), especially from French and English, are typically not inflected; other modern borrowings are derived from Albanian , South Slavic ( Macedonian / Bulgarian ) and Eastern Romance languages ( Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian ). Greek words have been widely borrowed into other languages, including English. Example words include: mathematics , physics , astronomy , democracy , philosophy , athletics , theatre, rhetoric , baptism , evangelist , etc. Moreover, Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as
8532-537: The Armenian King Arsaces to muster an army and await instructions. He crossed the Euphrates near Hierapolis and moved eastward to Carrhae , giving the impression that his chosen route into Persian territory was down the Tigris . For this reason it seems he sent a force of 30,000 soldiers under Procopius and Sebastianus further eastward to devastate Media in conjunction with Armenian forces. This
8690-754: The Christian faith. His contributions to Trinitarian theology are also influential and often cited in the Western churches. Paul Tillich credits Gregory of Nazianzus for having "created the definitive formulae for the doctrine of the trinity". Additionally, the Liturgy of St Gregory the Theologian in use by the Coptic Church is named after him. Following his death, Gregory was buried at Nazianzus. His relics, consisting of portions of his body and clothing, were transferred to Constantinople in 950, into
8848-741: The Church of the Holy Apostles. Part of the relics were taken from Constantinople by Crusaders during the Fourth Crusade , in 1204, and ended up in Rome . On 27 November 2004, those relics, along with those of John Chrysostom , were returned to Constantinople (now Istanbul ) by Pope John Paul II , with the Vatican retaining a small portion of both. The relics are now enshrined in the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George in
9006-406: The Eastern army was an unknown quantity originally loyal to the Emperor he had risen against, and he had tried to woo it through the Chalcedon tribunal . However, to solidify his position in the eyes of the eastern army, he needed to lead its soldiers to victory and a campaign against the Sassanid Persians offered such an opportunity. An audacious plan was formulated whose goal was to lay siege on
9164-438: The Empire. Libanius says in his epitaph of the deceased emperor (18.304) that "I have mentioned representations (of Julian); many cities have set him beside the images of the gods and honour him as they do the gods. Already a blessing has been besought of him in prayer, and it was not in vain. To such an extent has he literally ascended to the gods and received a share of their power from him themselves." However, no similar action
9322-401: The Euphrates to Ctesiphon on the Tigris. As the army marched toward the Persian capital, the Sassanids broke the dikes which crossed the land, turning it into marshland , slowing the progress of the Roman army. By mid-May, the army had reached the vicinity of the heavily fortified Persian capital, Ctesiphon , where Julian partially unloaded some of the fleet and had his troops ferried across
9480-486: The Greek alphabet since approximately the 9th century BC. It was created by modifying the Phoenician alphabet , with the innovation of adopting certain letters to represent the vowels. The variant of the alphabet in use today is essentially the late Ionic variant, introduced for writing classical Attic in 403 BC. In classical Greek, as in classical Latin, only upper-case letters existed. The lower-case Greek letters were developed much later by medieval scribes to permit
9638-442: The Greek language was the Cypriot syllabary (also a descendant of Linear A via the intermediate Cypro-Minoan syllabary ), which is closely related to Linear B but uses somewhat different syllabic conventions to represent phoneme sequences. The Cypriot syllabary is attested in Cyprus from the 11th century BC until its gradual abandonment in the late Classical period, in favor of the standard Greek alphabet. Greek has been written in
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#17327723073939796-419: The Kingdom of Heaven. This led Philip Schaff and late-nineteenth century Christian universalists such as J. W. Hanson to describe Gregory's theology as universalist. This view of Gregory is also held by some modern theologians such as John Sachs, who said that Gregory had "leanings" toward apocatastasis, but in a "cautious, undogmatic" way. However, it is not clear or universally accepted that Gregory held to
9954-488: The Romans were overwhelmingly victorious. The enemy was routed and driven into the river. King Chnodomarius was captured and later sent to Constantius in Mediolanum . Ammianus , who was a participant in the battle, portrays Julian in charge of events on the battlefield and describes how the soldiers, because of this success, acclaimed Julian attempting to make him Augustus , an acclamation he rejected, rebuking them. He later rewarded them for their valor. Rather than chase
10112-430: The Sassanid capital city of Ctesiphon and definitively secure the eastern border. Yet the full motivation for this ambitious operation is, at best, unclear. There was no direct necessity for an invasion, as the Sassanids sent envoys in the hope of settling matters peacefully. Julian rejected this offer. Ammianus states that Julian longed for revenge on the Persians and that a certain desire for combat and glory also played
10270-430: The Son, for it is not by generation but by procession , since I must coin a word for the sake of clearness." Although Gregory does not fully develop the concept, the idea of procession would shape most later thought about the Holy Spirit. He emphasized that Jesus did not cease to be God when he became a man, nor did he lose any of his divine attributes when he took on human nature. Furthermore, Gregory asserted that Christ
10428-422: The Spirit! Gregory's homilies were well received and attracted ever-growing crowds to Anastasia. Fearing his popularity, his opponents decided to strike. On the vigil of Easter in 379, an Arian mob burst into his church during worship services, wounding Gregory and killing another bishop. Escaping the mob, Gregory next found himself betrayed by his erstwhile friend, the philosopher Maximus the Cynic . Maximus, who
10586-431: The Theologian or Gregory Nazianzen , was an early Roman Christian theologian and prelate who served as Archbishop of Constantinople from 380 to 381. He is widely considered the most accomplished rhetorical stylist of the patristic age . As a classically trained orator and philosopher, he infused Hellenism into the early Church , establishing the paradigm of Byzantine theologians and church officials. Gregory made
10744-405: The Tigris by night. The Romans gained a tactical victory over the Persians before the gates of the city, driving them back into the city. However, the Persian capital was not taken. Concerned with the risk of becoming encircled and trapped within the city's walls, master-general Victor ordered his soldiers not to enter the open gates of the city in pursuit of the defeated Persians. Resultantly,
10902-420: The West with the East, he offered to recognize Paulinus as Patriarch of Antioch. The Egyptian and Macedonian bishops who had supported Maximus's ordination arrived late for the council. Once there, they refused to recognise Gregory's position as head of the church of Constantinople, arguing that his transfer from the See of Sasima was canonically illegitimate. Gregory was physically exhausted and worried that he
11060-404: The acute during the late 20th century, and it has only been retained in typography . After the writing reform of 1982, most diacritics are no longer used. Since then, Greek has been written mostly in the simplified monotonic orthography (or monotonic system), which employs only the acute accent and the diaeresis. The traditional system, now called the polytonic orthography (or polytonic system),
11218-402: The administration of his diocese. This strained his relationship with Basil, who insisted that Gregory resume his post at Sasima. Gregory retorted that he had no intention to continue to play the role of pawn to advance Basil's interests. He instead focused his attention on his new duties as coadjutor of Nazianzus. It was around this time that his sister, Saint Gorgonia , died, and he preached
11376-528: The administration of the law and defense of the empire's vast frontiers. In replacing Constantius's political and civil appointees, Julian drew heavily from the intellectual and professional classes, or kept reliable holdovers, such as the rhetorician Themistius . His choice of consuls for the year 362 was more controversial. One was the very acceptable Claudius Mamertinus , previously the Praetorian prefect of Illyricum . The other, more surprising choice
11534-559: The affairs of Gaul. In the following years he learned how to lead and then run an army, through a series of campaigns against the Germanic tribes that had settled on both sides of the Rhine . During his first campaign in 356, Julian led an army to the Rhine, where he engaged the inhabitants and recovered several towns that had fallen into Frankish hands, including Colonia Agrippina ( Cologne ). With success under his belt he withdrew for
11692-535: The age of 18, the exile was lifted and he dwelt briefly in Constantinople and Nicomedia . He became a lector , a minor office in the Christian church, and his later writings show a detailed knowledge of the Bible, likely acquired in his early life. Julian's conversion from Christianity to paganism happened at around the age of 20. Looking back on his life in 362, Julian wrote that he had spent twenty years in
11850-479: The arrival of Proto-Greeks, some documented in Mycenaean texts ; they include a large number of Greek toponyms . The form and meaning of many words have changed. Loanwords (words of foreign origin) have entered the language, mainly from Latin, Venetian , and Turkish . During the older periods of Greek, loanwords into Greek acquired Greek inflections, thus leaving only a foreign root word. Modern borrowings (from
12008-516: The arrival of the column under Procopius and Sebastianus, set off east into the Persian interior, ordering the destruction of the fleet. This proved to be a hasty decision, for they were on the wrong side of the Tigris with no clear means of retreat and the Persians had begun to harass them from a distance, burning any food in the Romans' path. Julian had not brought adequate siege equipment, so there
12166-455: The arrival of the order from Constantius. Ammianus Marcellinus even suggested that the fear of Julian gaining more popularity than himself caused Constantius to send the order on the urging of Florentius. The troops proclaimed Julian Augustus in Paris , and this in turn led to a very swift military effort to secure or win the allegiance of others. Although the full details are unclear, there
12324-572: The body to the Church of the Apostles , where it was placed alongside that of Constantine. This act was a demonstration of his lawful right to the throne. He is also now thought to have been responsible for the building of Santa Costanza on a Christian site just outside Rome as a mausoleum for his wife Helena and sister-in-law Constantina . The new Emperor rejected the style of administration of his immediate predecessors. He blamed Constantine for
12482-444: The ceremonial of bloody sacrifices. David Stone Potter said after nearly two millennia: They expected a man who was both removed from them by the awesome spectacle of imperial power, and would validate their interests and desires by sharing them from his Olympian height (...) He was supposed to be interested in what interested his people, and he was supposed to be dignified. He was not supposed to leap up and show his appreciation for
12640-575: The city. From his deathbed, Basil reminded them of Gregory's capabilities and likely recommended his friend to champion the Trinitarian cause in Constantinople. In 379, the Antioch synod and its archbishop, Meletios, asked Gregory to go to Constantinople to lead a theological campaign to win over that city to Nicene orthodoxy. After much hesitation, Gregory agreed. His cousin Theodosia offered him
12798-657: The continuous illness and severe sufferings (physical and spiritual) which assailed him during his last years. In the tiny plot of ground at Arianzus , all that remained to him of his rich inheritance was by a fountain near which there was a shady walk. Gregory retired here to spend his days as a hermit. It was during this time that he decided to write theological discourses and poetry of both a religious and an autobiographical nature. He would receive occasional visits from intimate friends, as well as visits from strangers who were attracted to his retreat by his large reputation for sanctity and learning. He died about 25 January 390, although
12956-509: The coordinated operation against the Germanic peoples. With Barbatio safely out of the picture, King Chnodomarius led a confederation of Alamanni forces against Julian and Severus at the Battle of Argentoratum . The Romans were heavily outnumbered and during the heat of battle a group of 600 horsemen on the right wing deserted, yet, taking full advantage of the limitations of the terrain,
13114-796: The country. Prior to the Greco-Turkish War and the resulting population exchange in 1923 a very large population of Greek-speakers also existed in Turkey , though very few remain today. A small Greek-speaking community is also found in Bulgaria near the Greek-Bulgarian border. Greek is also spoken worldwide by the sizable Greek diaspora which has notable communities in the United States , Australia , Canada , South Africa , Chile , Brazil , Argentina , Russia , Ukraine ,
13272-441: The dative led to a rise of prepositional indirect objects (and the use of the genitive to directly mark these as well). Ancient Greek tended to be verb-final, but neutral word order in the modern language is VSO or SVO. Modern Greek inherits most of its vocabulary from Ancient Greek, which in turn is an Indo-European language, but also includes a number of borrowings from the languages of the populations that inhabited Greece before
13430-469: The death of Adonis , so there was wailing and moaning in the streets—not a good omen for an arrival. Julian soon discovered that wealthy merchants were causing food problems, apparently by hoarding food and selling it at high prices. He hoped that the curia would deal with the issue for the situation was headed for a famine. When the curia did nothing, he spoke to the city's leading citizens, trying to persuade them to take action. Thinking that they would do
13588-761: The doctrine of apocatastasis. Apart from the several theological discourses, Gregory was also one of the most important early Christian men of letters, a very accomplished orator, even perhaps one of the greatest of his time. Gregory was also a very prolific poet who wrote theological, moral, and biographical poems. The book VIII of the Greek Anthology contains exclusively 254 epigrams of his. Gregory's great nephew Nichobulos served as his literary executor, preserving and editing many of his writings. A cousin, Eulalios, published several of Gregory's more noteworthy works in 391. By 400, Rufinius began translating his orations into Latin. As Gregory's works circulated throughout
13746-568: The doctrine of the Trinity . He is especially noted for his contributions to the field of pneumatology —that is, theology concerning the nature of the Holy Spirit . In this regard, Gregory is the first to use the idea of procession to describe the relationship between the Spirit and the Godhead: "The Holy Spirit is truly Spirit, coming forth from the Father indeed but not after the manner of
13904-528: The earliest forms attested to four in the modern language). Nouns, articles, and adjectives show all the distinctions except for a person. Both attributive and predicative adjectives agree with the noun. The inflectional categories of the Greek verb have likewise remained largely the same over the course of the language's history but with significant changes in the number of distinctions within each category and their morphological expression. Greek verbs have synthetic inflectional forms for: Many aspects of
14062-637: The empire they influenced theological thought. His orations were cited as authoritative by the First Council of Ephesus in 431. By 451 he was designated Theologus , or Theologian by the Council of Chalcedon – a title held by no others save John the Apostle and Symeon the New Theologian (949–1022 AD). He is widely quoted by Eastern Orthodox theologians and highly regarded as a defender of
14220-555: The empress in his third oration). While there, Julian became acquainted with two men who later became both bishops and saints: Gregory of Nazianzus and Basil the Great . In the same period, Julian was also initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries , which he would later try to restore. After dealing with the rebellions of Magnentius and Silvanus, Constantius felt he needed a permanent representative in Gaul . In 355, Julian
14378-430: The exact date of his death is unknown. Gregory of Nazianzus is celebrated on different days across Christianity. Greek language Greek ( Modern Greek : Ελληνικά , romanized : Elliniká , [eliniˈka] ; Ancient Greek : Ἑλληνική , romanized : Hellēnikḗ ) is an Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It
14536-412: The extent that one can speak of a new language emerging. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language. It is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, " Homeric Greek is probably closer to Demotic than 12-century Middle English
14694-512: The funeral, he wrote a heartfelt letter of condolence to Basil's brother, Gregory of Nyssa , and composed twelve memorial poems dedicated to the memory of his departed friend. (The Greek Anthology, book I epigram 86 and book VIII epigrams 2–11). Upon the death of Emperor Valens in 378, the accession of Theodosius I , a steadfast supporter of Nicene orthodoxy, was good news to those who wished to purge Constantinople of Arian and Apollinarian domination. The exiled Nicene party gradually returned to
14852-523: The harvest was so bad that they had to be compensated with fair prices. Julian accused them of price gouging and forced them to sell. Various parts of Libanius' orations may suggest that both sides were justified to some extent; while Ammianus blames Julian for "a mere thirst for popularity". Julian's ascetic lifestyle was not popular either, since his subjects were accustomed to the idea of an all-powerful Emperor who placed himself well above them. Nor did he improve his dignity with his own participation in
15010-482: The historian Zosimus , the army officers were those responsible for distributing an anonymous tract expressing complaints against Constantius as well as fearing for Julian's ultimate fate. Notably absent at the time was the prefect Florentius, who was seldom far from Julian's side, though now he was kept busy organizing supplies in Vienne and away from any strife that the order could cause. Julian would later blame him for
15168-454: The imperial government was returned to the cities, city council members were compelled to resume civic authority, often against their will, and the tribute in gold by the cities called the aurum coronarium was made voluntary rather than a compulsory tax. Additionally, arrears of land taxes were cancelled. This was a key reform reducing the power of corrupt imperial officials, as the unpaid taxes on land were often hard to calculate or higher than
15326-528: The indecisive Battle of Samarra near Maranga in Mesopotamia, Julian was wounded when the Sassanid army raided his column. In the haste of pursuing the retreating enemy, Julian chose speed rather than caution, taking only his sword and leaving his coat of mail. He received a wound from a spear that reportedly pierced the lower lobe of his liver and intestines . The wound was not immediately deadly. Julian
15484-426: The job, he turned his attention to religious matters. He tried to resurrect the ancient oracular spring of Castalia at the temple of Apollo at Delphi. After being advised that the bones of 3rd-century bishop Babylas were suppressing the god, he made a public-relations mistake in ordering the removal of the bones from the vicinity of the temple. The result was a massive Christian procession. Shortly after that, when
15642-449: The language show both conservative and innovative tendencies across the entire attestation of the language from the ancient to the modern period. The division into conventional periods is, as with all such periodizations, relatively arbitrary, especially because, in all periods, Ancient Greek has enjoyed high prestige, and the literate borrowed heavily from it. Across its history, the syllabic structure of Greek has varied little: Greek shows
15800-467: The late 15th century BC, was the first script used to write Greek. It is basically a syllabary , which was finally deciphered by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick in the 1950s (its precursor, Linear A , has not been deciphered and most likely encodes a non-Greek language). The language of the Linear B texts, Mycenaean Greek , is the earliest known form of Greek. Another similar system used to write
15958-551: The late emperor Licinius . Julian's mother died shortly after he was born, and he spent his childhood in Constantinople, forming a lasting attachment to the city. Julian was probably raised with Greek as his first language, and, being the nephew of Rome's first Christian emperor, he was brought up under the Christian faith. In the turmoil after the death of Constantine in 337, in order to establish himself and his brothers, Julian's cousin Constantius II appears to have led
16116-494: The latter's support of tax increases, as mentioned above, and Florentius's own corruption in the bureaucracy. Constantius attempted to maintain some modicum of control over his Caesar , which explains his removal of Julian's close adviser Saturninius Secundus Salutius from Gaul. His departure stimulated the writing of Julian's oration, "Consolation Upon the Departure of Salutius". In the fourth year of Julian's stay in Gaul,
16274-486: The letter to the Athenians has survived in its entirety). Civil war was avoided only by the death on 3 November of Constantius, who, in his last will, is alleged by some sources to have recognized Julian as his rightful successor. On 11 December 361, Julian entered Constantinople as sole emperor and, despite his rejection of Christianity, his first political act was to preside over Constantius' Christian burial, escorting
16432-570: The life of the Orthodox Church who have been officially designated "Theologian" by epithet, the other two being John the Theologian (the Evangelist), and Symeon the New Theologian . Gregory was born to Greek parents in the family estate of Karbala outside the village of Arianzus , near Nazianzus , in southwest Cappadocia . His parents, Gregory and Nonna , were wealthy land-owners. In AD 325, Nonna converted her husband,
16590-407: The main Persian army was still at large and approaching, while the Romans lacked a clear strategic objective. In the council of war which followed, Julian's generals persuaded him not to mount a siege against the city, given the impregnability of its defences and the fact that Shapur would soon arrive with a large force. Julian, not wanting to give up what he had gained and probably still hoping for
16748-452: The many other countries of the Greek diaspora . Greek roots have been widely used for centuries and continue to be widely used to coin new words in other languages; Greek and Latin are the predominant sources of international scientific vocabulary . Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, or possibly earlier. The earliest written evidence is
16906-465: The morphological changes also have their counterparts in the syntax, and there are also significant differences between the syntax of the ancient and that of the modern form of the language . Ancient Greek made great use of participial constructions and of constructions involving the infinitive, and the modern variety lacks the infinitive entirely (employing a raft of new periphrastic constructions instead) and uses participles more restrictively. The loss of
17064-519: The next year combating the local Apollinarian heretics and struggling with periodic illness. He also began composing De Vita Sua , his autobiographical poem. By the end of 383 he found his health too feeble to cope with episcopal duties. Gregory established Eulalius as bishop of Nazianzus and then withdrew into the solitude of Arianzum. After enjoying six peaceful years in retirement at his family estate, he died on 25 January in 390. Gregory faced stark choices throughout his life: Should he pursue studies as
17222-632: The next year. Arriving at Nazianzus , Gregory found the local Christian community split by theological differences and his father accused of heresy by local monks. Gregory helped to heal the division through a combination of personal diplomacy and oratory. By this time, Emperor Julian had publicly declared himself in opposition to Christianity. In response to the emperor's rejection of the Christian faith, Gregory composed his Invectives Against Julian between 362 and 363. Invectives asserts that Christianity will overcome imperfect rulers such as Julian through love and patience. This process as described by Gregory
17380-464: The north Adriatic coast, an event that threatened to cut Julian off from the rest of his forces, while Constantius's troops marched towards him from the east. Aquileia was subsequently besieged by 23,000 men loyal to Julian. All Julian could do was sit it out in Naissus, the city of Constantine's birth, waiting for news and writing letters to various cities in Greece justifying his actions (of which only
17538-500: The orthodox position and decided to convene a church council to resolve matters of faith and discipline. Gregory was of similar mind in wishing to unify Christianity. In the spring of 381 they convened the Second Ecumenical Council in Constantinople, which was attended by 150 Eastern bishops. After the death of the presiding bishop, Meletius of Antioch , Gregory was selected to lead the council. Hoping to reconcile
17696-475: The pass of Succi into Thrace. He was now well out of his comfort zone and on the road to civil war. (Julian would state in late November that he set off down this road "because, having been declared a public enemy, I meant to frighten him [Constantius] merely, and that our quarrel should result in intercourse on more friendly terms..." ) However, in June, forces loyal to Constantius captured the city of Aquileia on
17854-643: The regions of Apulia and Calabria in Italy. In the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , Greek is protected and promoted officially as a regional and minority language in Armenia, Hungary , Romania, and Ukraine. It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . The phonology , morphology , syntax , and vocabulary of
18012-513: The routed enemy across the Rhine, Julian now proceeded to follow the Rhine north, the route he followed the previous year on his way back to Gaul. At Moguntiacum ( Mainz ), however, he crossed the Rhine in an expedition that penetrated deep into what is today Germany, and forced three local kingdoms to submit. This action showed the Alamanni that Rome was once again present and active in the area. On his way back to winter quarters in Paris he dealt with
18170-487: The same laws as his subjects. While in Constantinople, therefore, it was not strange to see Julian frequently active in the Senate, participating in debates and making speeches, placing himself at the level of the other members of the Senate. He viewed the royal court of his predecessors as inefficient, corrupt and expensive. Thousands of servants, eunuchs and superfluous officials were therefore summarily dismissed. He set up
18328-412: The siege. Relations between Julian and Marcellus seem to have been poor. Constantius accepted Julian's report of events and Marcellus was replaced as magister equitum by Severus. The following year saw a combined operation planned by Constantius to regain control of the Rhine from the Germanic peoples who had spilt across the river onto the west bank. From the south his magister peditum Barbatio
18486-466: The state of the administration and for having abandoned the traditions of the past. He made no attempt to restore the tetrarchal system begun under Diocletian , nor did he seek to rule as an absolute autocrat. His own philosophic notions led him to idealize the reigns of Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius . In his first panegyric to Constantius, Julian described the ideal ruler as being essentially primus inter pares ("first among equals"), operating under
18644-437: The stressed vowel; the so-called breathing marks ( rough and smooth breathing ), originally used to signal presence or absence of word-initial /h/; and the diaeresis , used to mark the full syllabic value of a vowel that would otherwise be read as part of a diphthong. These marks were introduced during the course of the Hellenistic period. Actual usage of the grave in handwriting saw a rapid decline in favor of uniform usage of
18802-526: The temple was destroyed by fire, Julian suspected the Christians and ordered stricter investigations than usual. He also shut up the chief Christian church of the city , before the investigations proved that the fire was the result of an accident. When the curia still took no substantial action in regards to the food shortage, Julian intervened, fixing the prices for grain and importing more from Egypt. Then landholders refused to sell theirs, claiming that
18960-420: The theurgist invited him into the temple of Hecate and, chanting a hymn, caused a statue of the goddess to smile and laugh, and her torches to ignite. Eusebius reportedly told Julian that he "must not marvel at any of these things, even as I marvel not, but rather believe that the thing of the highest importance is that purification of the soul which is attained by reason." In spite of Eusebius' warnings regarding
19118-433: The threat of persecution, as the new emperor Jovian was an avowed Christian and supporter of the church. Gregory spent the next few years combating Arianism , which threatened to divide the region of Cappadocia . In this tense environment, Gregory interceded on behalf of his friend Basil with Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea ( Mazaca ). The two friends then entered a period of close fraternal cooperation as they participated in
19276-423: The value of the land itself. Forgiving back taxes both made Julian more popular and allowed him to increase collections of current taxes. While he ceded much of the authority of the imperial government to the cities, Julian also took more direct control himself. For example, new taxes and corvées had to be approved by him directly rather than left to the judgement of the bureaucratic apparatus. Julian certainly had
19434-507: The way of Christianity and twelve in the true way, i.e., the way of Helios . Julian began his study of Neoplatonism in Asia Minor in 351, at first under Aedesius , the philosopher, and then Aedesius' student Eusebius of Myndus . It was from Eusebius that Julian learned of the teachings of Maximus of Ephesus , whom Eusebius criticized for his more mystical form of Neoplatonic theurgy . Eusebius related his meeting with Maximus, in which
19592-405: The winter to Gaul, distributing his forces to protect various towns, and choosing the small town of Senon near Verdun to await the spring. This turned out to be a tactical error, for he was left with insufficient forces to defend himself when a large contingent of Franks besieged the town and Julian was virtually held captive there for several months, until his general Marcellus deigned to lift
19750-621: Was Nevitta , Julian's trusted Frankish general. This latter appointment made overt the fact that an emperor's authority depended on the power of the army. Julian's choice of Nevitta appears to have been aimed at maintaining the support of the Western army which had acclaimed him. After five months of dealings at the capital, Julian left Constantinople in May and moved to Antioch , arriving in mid-July and staying there for nine months before launching his fateful campaign against Persia in March 363. Antioch
19908-475: Was Flavius Claudius Julianus, was born at Constantinople , probably in 331, into the family of the reigning emperor, Constantine I , and was the first attested individual to be born in that city after its refounding. His father was Julius Constantius , Constantine's younger half-brother, and his mother was a Bithynian noble named Basilina , daughter of a high-ranking bureaucrat, Julianus , who had served as praetorian prefect and head of government under
20066-533: Was a city favored by splendid temples along with a famous oracle of Apollo in nearby Daphne, which may have been one reason for his choosing to reside there. It had also been used in the past as a staging place for amassing troops, a purpose which Julian intended to follow. His arrival on 18 July was well received by the Antiochenes, though it coincided with the celebration of the Adonia , a festival which marked
20224-574: Was a distinct dialect of Greek itself. Aside from the Macedonian question, current consensus regards Phrygian as the closest relative of Greek, since they share a number of phonological, morphological and lexical isoglosses , with some being exclusive between them. Scholars have proposed a Graeco-Phrygian subgroup out of which Greek and Phrygian originated. Among living languages, some Indo-Europeanists suggest that Greek may be most closely related to Armenian (see Graeco-Armenian ) or
20382-557: Was also used in Ancient Greek. Greek has occasionally been written in the Latin script , especially in areas under Venetian rule or by Greek Catholics . The term Frankolevantinika / Φραγκολεβαντίνικα applies when the Latin script is used to write Greek in the cultural ambit of Catholicism (because Frankos / Φράγκος is an older Greek term for West-European dating to when most of (Roman Catholic Christian) West Europe
20540-412: Was buried outside Tarsus , though it was later moved to Constantinople. In 364, Libanius stated that Julian was assassinated by a Christian who was one of his own soldiers; this charge is not corroborated by Ammianus Marcellinus or other contemporary historians. John Malalas reports that the supposed assassination was commanded by Basil of Caesarea . Fourteen years later, Libanius said that Julian
20698-556: Was by far the most widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world . It eventually became the official language of the Byzantine Empire and developed into Medieval Greek . In its modern form , Greek is the official language of Greece and Cyprus and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union . It is spoken by at least 13.5 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey , and
20856-425: Was considered the patron saint of Kotromanić dynasty and medieval Bosnia during the first half of the 15th century, while Saint George , the miracle-worker, has been the patron saint since at least mid-13th century, although confirmed by the papacy much later in 1461. Saint Gregory the Great was also considered the patron of both the state and dynasty in the late 15th century. He is also one of only three men in
21014-647: Was elected bishop of the see of Caesarea in Cappadocia in 370. Gregory was ordained Bishop of Sasima in 372 by Basil. Basil created this see in order to strengthen his position in his dispute with Anthimus , bishop of Tyana . The ambitions of Gregory's father to have his son rise in the Church hierarchy and the insistence of his friend Basil convinced Gregory to accept this position despite his reservations. Gregory would later refer to his episcopal ordination as forced upon him by his strong-willed father and Basil. Describing his new bishopric, Gregory lamented how it
21172-458: Was exhumed and reburied in or near the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, where Constantine and the rest of his family lay. His sarcophagus is listed as standing in a "stoa" there by Constantine Porphyrogenitus . The church was demolished by the Ottomans after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Today a sarcophagus of porphyry , believed by Jean Ebersolt to be Julian's, stands in
21330-519: Was fully human, including a full human soul. He also proclaimed the eternality of the Holy Spirit, saying that the Holy Spirit's actions were somewhat hidden in the Old Testament but much clearer since the ascension of Jesus into Heaven and the descent of the Holy Spirit at the feast of Pentecost. In contrast to the Neo-Arian belief that the Son is anomoios , or "unlike" the Father, and with
21488-502: Was in search of." Constantine II died in 340 when he attacked his brother Constans. Constans in turn fell in 350 in the war against the usurper Magnentius . This left Constantius II as the sole remaining emperor. In need of support, in 351 he made Julian's half-brother, Gallus , caesar of the East, while Constantius II himself turned his attention westward to Magnentius, whom he defeated decisively that year. In 354 Gallus, who had imposed
21646-484: Was in secret alliance with Peter, bishop of Alexandria, attempted to seize Gregory's position and have himself ordained bishop of Constantinople. Shocked, Gregory decided to resign his office, but the faction faithful to him induced him to stay and ejected Maximus. This episode left Gregory embarrassed, and exposed him to criticism as a provincial simpleton unable to cope with the intrigues of the imperial city. Affairs in Constantinople remained confused as Gregory's position
21804-461: Was initially successful, securing a victory outside Ctesiphon in Mesopotamia . However, he did not attempt to besiege the capital. Julian instead moved into Persia's heartland, but he soon faced supply problems and was forced to retreat northwards while being ceaselessly harassed by Persian skirmishers. During the Battle of Samarra , Julian was mortally wounded. He was succeeded by Jovian ,
21962-442: Was killed by a Saracen ( Lakhmid ) and this may have been confirmed by Julian's doctor Oribasius who, having examined the wound, said that it was from a spear used by a group of Lakhmid auxiliaries in Persian service. Later Christian historians propagated the tradition that Julian was killed by Saint Mercurius . Julian was succeeded by the short-lived Emperor Jovian who reestablished Christianity's privileged position throughout
22120-512: Was losing the confidence of the bishops and the emperor. Rather than press his case and risk further division, he decided to resign his office: "Let me be as the Prophet Jonah! I was responsible for the storm, but I would sacrifice myself for the salvation of the ship. Seize me and throw me ... I was not happy when I ascended the throne, and gladly would I descend it." He shocked the council with his surprise resignation and then delivered
22278-535: Was necessary to restore the Empire's ancient Roman values and traditions in order to save it from dissolution. He purged the top-heavy state bureaucracy , and attempted to revive traditional Roman religious practices at the expense of Christianity . His efforts to build a Third Temple in Jerusalem were probably intended to harm Christianity rather than please Jews . Julian also forbade Christians from teaching and learning classical texts. Julian, whose full name
22436-436: Was nothing he could do when he found that the Persians had flooded the area behind him, forcing him to withdraw. A second council of war on 16 June 363 decided that the best course of action was to lead the army back to the safety of Roman borders, not through Mesopotamia , but northward to Corduene . During the withdrawal, Julian's forces suffered several attacks from Sassanid forces. In one such engagement on 26 June 363,
22594-414: Was nothing more than an "utterly dreadful, pokey little hole; a paltry horse-stop on the main road ... devoid of water, vegetation, or the company of gentlemen ... this was my Church of Sasima!" He made little effort to administer his new diocese, complaining to Basil that he preferred instead to pursue a contemplative life. By late 372, Gregory returned to Nazianzus to assist his dying father with
22752-720: Was one of few in the imperial family to survive the purges and civil wars during the reign of Constantius II , his cousin. Julian became an orphan as a child after his father was executed in 337, and spent much of his life under Constantius's close supervision. However, the emperor allowed Julian to pursue freely an education in the Greek-speaking east, with the result that Julian became unusually cultured for an emperor of his time. In 355, Constantius II summoned Julian to court and appointed him to rule Gaul . Despite his inexperience, Julian showed unexpected success in his new capacity, defeating and counterattacking Germanic raids across
22910-492: Was ordained a presbyter by his father's wish, who wanted him to assist with caring for local Christians. The younger Gregory, who had been considering a monastic existence, resented his father's decision to force him to choose between priestly services and a solitary existence, calling it an "act of tyranny". Leaving home after a few days, he met his friend Basil at Annesoi, where the two lived as ascetics. However, Basil urged him to return home to assist his father, which he did for
23068-542: Was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary . The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin , Cyrillic , Coptic , Gothic , and many other writing systems. The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with the epics of Homer , ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting importance in
23226-526: Was still unofficial, and Arian priests yet occupied many important churches. The arrival of the emperor Theodosius in 380 settled matters in Gregory's favor. The emperor, determined to eliminate Arianism, expelled Bishop Demophilus . Gregory was subsequently enthroned as bishop of Constantinople at the Basilica of the Apostles, replacing Demophilus. Theodosius wanted to further unify the entire empire behind
23384-637: Was summoned to appear before the emperor in Mediolanum and on 6 November was made Caesar of the West, marrying Constantius' sister, Helena . Constantius, after his experience with Gallus, intended his representative to be more a figurehead than an active participant in events, so he packed Julian off to Gaul with a small retinue, assuming his prefects in Gaul would keep Julian in check. At first reluctant to trade his scholarly life for war and politics, Julian eventually took every opportunity to involve himself in
23542-458: Was taken by the Roman central government, which would be more and more dominated by Christians in the ensuing decades. Considered apocryphal is the report that his dying words were νενίκηκάς με, Γαλιλαῖε , or Vicisti, Galilaee ("You have won, Galilean "), supposedly expressing his recognition that, with his death, Christianity would become the Empire's state religion. The phrase introduces
23700-526: Was the Caesar of the West from 355 to 360 and Roman emperor from 361 to 363, as well as a notable philosopher and author in Greek . His rejection of Christianity , and his promotion of Neoplatonic Hellenism in its place, caused him to be remembered as Julian the Apostate in Christian tradition. He is sometimes referred to as Julian the Philosopher . A nephew of Constantine the Great , Julian
23858-509: Was to come from Milan and amass forces at Augst (near the Rhine bend), then set off north with 25,000 soldiers; Julian with 13,000 troops would move east from Durocortorum ( Rheims ). However, while Julian was in transit, a group of Laeti attacked Lugdunum ( Lyon ) and Julian was delayed in order to deal with them. This left Barbatio unsupported and deep in Alamanni territory, so he felt obliged to withdraw, retracing his steps. Thus ended
24016-427: Was to drive out the barbarians who had breached the Rhine frontier. He sought to win over the support of the civil population, which was necessary for his operations in Gaul, and also to show his largely Germanic army the benefits of Imperial rule. Julian therefore felt it was necessary to rebuild stable and peaceful conditions in the devastated cities and countryside. For this reason, Julian clashed with Florentius over
24174-477: Was treated by his personal physician, Oribasius of Pergamum, who seems to have made every attempt to treat the wound. This probably included the irrigation of the wound with a dark wine , and a procedure known as gastrorrhaphy , the suturing of the damaged intestine. On the third day a major hemorrhage occurred and the emperor died during the night. Some Christian writers reported that his final words were "Thou hast conquered, Galilean.” As Julian wished, his body
24332-580: Was under the control of the Frankish Empire ). Frankochiotika / Φραγκοχιώτικα (meaning 'Catholic Chiot') alludes to the significant presence of Catholic missionaries based on the island of Chios . Additionally, the term Greeklish is often used when the Greek language is written in a Latin script in online communications. The Latin script is nowadays used by the Greek-speaking communities of Southern Italy . The Yevanic dialect
24490-462: Was under the guardianship of Eusebius , the semi-Arian Christian Bishop of Nicomedia, and taught by Mardonius , a Gothic eunuch , about whom he later wrote warmly. After Eusebius died in 342, both Julian and Gallus were transferred to the imperial estate of Macellum in Cappadocia . Here Julian met the Christian bishop George of Cappadocia , who lent him books from the classical tradition. At
24648-637: Was used for literary and official purposes in the newly formed Greek state. In 1976, Dimotiki was declared the official language of Greece, after having incorporated features of Katharevousa and thus giving birth to Standard Modern Greek , used today for all official purposes and in education . The historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language are often emphasized. Although Greek has undergone morphological and phonological changes comparable to those seen in other languages, never since classical antiquity has its cultural, literary, and orthographic tradition been interrupted to
24806-605: Was where two earlier Roman campaigns had concentrated and where the main Persian forces were soon directed. Julian's strategy lay elsewhere, however. He had had a fleet built of over 1,000 ships at Samosata in order to supply his army for a march down the Euphrates and of 50 pontoon ships to facilitate river crossings. Procopius and the Armenians would march down the Tigris to meet Julian near Ctesiphon. Julian's ultimate aim seems to have been "regime change" by replacing king Shapur II with his brother Hormisdas . After feigning
24964-673: Was written by Romaniote and Constantinopolitan Karaite Jews using the Hebrew Alphabet . In a tradition, that in modern time, has come to be known as Greek Aljamiado , some Greek Muslims from Crete wrote their Cretan Greek in the Arabic alphabet . The same happened among Epirote Muslims in Ioannina . This also happened among Arabic-speaking Byzantine rite Christians in the Levant ( Lebanon , Palestine, and Syria ). This usage
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