On the 1st of January, Our Holy Orthodox Church Commemorates Our Father among the Saints BASIL THE GREAT, Archbishop of Caesarea of Cappadocia.

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

On the 1st of January, Our Holy Orthodox Church Commemorates Our Father
among the Saints BASIL THE GREAT, Archbishop of Cappadocia.

Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn of the Saint. First Tone

Thy sound hath gone forth into all the earth, which hath received thy
word. Thereby thou hast divinely taught the Faith; thou hast made
manifest the nature of all things that be; thou hast adorned the ways of
man. O namesake of the Royal Priesthood, our Righteous Father Basil,
intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved.

Kontakion Hymn of the Saint. Fourth Tone

For the Church art thou in truth a firm foundation, granting an
inviolate lordship unto all mortal men and sealing it with what
thou hast taught, O Righteous Basil, revealer of heavenly things.

Saint Basil the Great was born about the end of the year 329 A.D. in Caesarea of Cappadocia, to a family renowned for their learning and holiness. His parents’ names were BASIL and EMILIA. His mother Emilia (commemorated July 19th) and his grandmother Macrina (January 14th) ae Saints of the Church, together with all his brothers and sisters: Macrina, his elder sister (July 19th), Gregory of Nyssa (January 10th), Peter of Sevastia (January 9th), and Nafcratios. Basil studied in Constantinople under the sophist Libanius, then in Athens, where also he formed a friendship with the young Gregory, a fellow Cappadocian, later called "the Theologian." Through the good influence of his sister Macrina, he chose to embrace the ascetical life, ABANDONING HIS WORLDLY CAREER. He visited the monks in Egypt, in Palestine, in Syria, and in Mesopotamia, and upon returning to Caesarea, he departed to a hermitage on the Iris River in Pontus, not far from Annesi, where his mother and his sister Macrina were already treading the path of the ascetical life; here he also wrote his ascetical homilies.
About the year 370 A.D., when the bishop of his country reposed, he was elected to succeed to his throne and was entrusted with the Church of Christ, which he tended for eight years, living in voluntary poverty and strict asceticism, having no other care than to defend Holy Orthodoxy as a worthy successor of the Holy Apostles. The Emperor Valens, and Modestus, the Eparch of the East, who were of one mind with the heretical Arians, tried with threats of exile and of tortures to bend the Saint to their own confession, because he was the bastion of Orthodoxy in all Cappadocia, and preserved, and preserved it from heresy when Arianism was at its strongest. But he set all their malice at nought, and in his willingness to give himself up to every suffering for the sake of the Faith, showed himself to be a Martyr by VOLITION. Modestus, amazed at Basil’s fearlessness in his presence, said that no one had ever so spoken to him. "Perhaps," answered the Saint, "YOU HAVE NEVER MET A BISHOP BEFORE." The Emperor Valens himself was almost won over by Saint Basil’s dignity and wisdom. When Valens’ son fell gravely ill, he asked Saint Basil to pray for him. The Saint promised that his son would be restored if Valens agreed to have him baptized by the Orthodox; Valens agreed, Saint Basil prayed, the son was restored. But afterwards the Emperor had him baptized by Arians, and the child died soon after. Later, Valens, persuaded by his counselors, decided to send the Saint into exile because HE WOULD NOT ACCEPT THE ARIAN HERETICS INTO COMMUNION, BUT HIS PEN BROKE WHEN HE WAS SIGNING THE EDICT OF BANISHMENT. He tried a second time and a third time, but the same thing happened, so that the Emperor was filled with dread, and tore up the document, and Saint Basil was NOT banished. The truly Great Saint Basil, spent with extreme ascetical practices and continual labors at the helm of the Church, departed to the Lord on the 1st January in 379 A.D., at the age of 49.

His writings are replete with wisdom and erudition, and with these gifts he set forth the doctrine concerning the mysteries both of the CREATION (see his Hexaemeron) and of the HOLY TRINITY (see On the Holy Spirit). Because of the majesty and keenness of his eloquence, he is honored as "THE REVEALER OF HEAVENLY THINGS" and "the Great."

Saint Basil the Great is also celebrated on January 30th with Saint Gregory the Theologian and Saint John Chrysostomos. [Source: The Great Horologion]

_________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +

With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George