Roman York

Emperor Constantine the Great. Reigned from 306 till his death in 337 

Well I mentioned in the blog on Roman practice camps at Cawthorn a couple of days ago, that the Roman soldiers were probably settled at Malton which was a few miles from York/Eboracum..  York was the Roman headquarters here in the North, and the father of the above (to be) emperor was killed fighting in the city and the army immediately called for Constantine to be made emperor which he duly was.  He looks a handsome fella in his recently made statue in York.  He ruled for a long time and became a Christian but lived the life of an Emperor fighting all over the continent.

My interest lies in the fact that he became St. Constantine and has become the object of a plea for an Antiochian Orthodox community to have their own church in York. So when 'The Abbey of Misrule' email came through with the funding plea, I watched the following video with great interest.  Not only for the beautiful portrayal of York but for the lesson in religious worship of the group.

The group was sincere and also simple, and when my non religious hackles rise up, it is time to question my feeling towards religious worship.  Here though I loved the nobility of the need for a church, a rather disused but beautiful one seemed to be the one chosen.  They do have a chapel in I think the university but it is temporary and the  wooden framing for the altar all has to be removed and stored elsewhere.  So a record of an unusual group worshipping in York.