Basil of Caesarea, Bishop and Theologian, 379
Almighty God, who has revealed to your church your eternal
Being of glorious majesty and perfect love as one God in Trinity of Persons: Give
us grace that, like your bishop Basil of Caesarea, we may continue steadfastly
in the confession of this faith and remain constant in our worship of you,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; ever one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Basil died on 1 January 379. He is accordingly
commemorated on that day in the East. The traditional Western date is 14 June,
the anniversary of his consecration. The Roman usage has adopted 2 January. Basil
was born in Caesarea of Cappadocia, a province in what is now central Turkey. He
was born in 329, after the persecution of Christians had ceased, but with
parents who could remember the persecutions and had lived through them. The
influence and example of his sister, Macrina, led him to seek the monastic life.
Basil served as Bishop and Theologian, and defended of the faith in the time
between the First Ecumenical Council at Nicea, 325, and the Second at Constantinople,
381 - years in which it was uncertain whether the Church would stand by the
declaration made at Nicea that the Logos (the "Word" -- see John 1:1)
was fully God, equally with the Father, or seek a more flexible formula in the
hope of reconciliation with the Arians. Basil
is counted with his brother, Gregory of Nyssa, and his friend, Gregory of
Nazianzus, as one of the three Cappadocians or early Greek Church leaders.*
*The Lectionary, James Kiefer, http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Basil_Great.htm
