Today the Church remembers a
saint with a great mind, St. Basil. He
was born around the year 330 A.D. His parents were well to do. His parents were known for their piety, and his maternal
grandfather was a Christian martyr, executed in the years prior to Constantine's
conversion. Among Basil’s siblings, four are commonly venerated as saints:
Macrina the Younger, Naucratius, Peter of Sebaste and Gregory of Nyssa.
Shortly after Basil’s birth, the family moved to his
grandmother Macrina the Elder’s home. There, Basil was educated in the home by
his father and grandmother. Following the death of his father during his
teenage years, Basil returned to Caesarea in Cappadocia around 350-51 to begin
his formal education. There he met Gregory of Nazianzus, also a saint, who
would become a lifetime friend. Together, Basil and Gregory went on to study in
Constantinople. Finally, the two spent almost six years in Athens starting
around 349, where they met a fellow student who would become the emperor Julian
the Apostate. Basil left Athens in 356, and after travelling in Egypt and
Syria, he returned to Caesarea, where for around a year he practiced law and
taught rhetoric. A year later, Basil's life would change radically after he
encountered Eustathius of Sebaste, a charismatic bishop and ascetic.
After receiving the sacrament of baptism, Basil traveled
in 357 to Palestine, Egypt, Syria and Mesopotamia to study ascetics and
monasticism. While impressed by the piety of the ascetics, the ideal of
solitary life held little appeal to him. Rather, he turned his attention toward
communal religious life. After dividing his fortunes among the poor he went
briefly into solitude near Neocaesaria on the Iris. Basil soon ventured out of
this solitude, and by 358 he was gathering around him a group of like-minded
disciples, including his brother Peter. Together they founded a monastic
settlement on his family estate.
Basil wrote regarding monastic communal life, which are
accounted as being pivotal in the development of the monastic tradition of the
Eastern Church and have led to his being called the "father of Eastern
communal monasticism". In 358, he wrote to his friend, Gregory of
Nazianzus, asking Gregory to join him in Arnesi. Gregory eventually agreed to
come.
In 362, Basil was ordained a deacon by Bishop Meletius of
Antioch. He was summoned by Eusebius to his city, and was ordained presbyter of
the Church there in 365. His ordination was probably the result of the
entreaties of his ecclesiastical superiors.
Basil and Gregory Nazianzus spent the next few years
combating the Arian heresy (a heresy denying the divinity of Christ), which threatened
to divide the region of Cappadocia. Gregory and Basil engaged in public debates
on Christian doctrine, and they emerged triumphant.
In 370, Basil was consecrated bishop on June 14, 370. Basil
was also generous and sympathetic. He personally organized a soup kitchen and
distributed food to the poor during a famine following a drought. He gave away
his personal family inheritance to benefit the poor of his diocese.
His letters show that he actively worked to reform
thieves and prostitutes. They also show him encouraging his clergy, and that he
personally took care in selecting worthy candidates for holy orders. He also
had the courage to criticize public officials who failed in their duty of
administering justice. At the same time, he preached every morning and evening
in his own church to large congregations. In addition to all the above, he
built a large complex just outside Caesarea, which included a poorhouse,
hospice, and hospital, and was regarded at the time as one of the wonders of
the world.
His zeal for orthodoxy did not blind him to what was good
in an opponent; and for the sake of peace and charity he was content to waive
the use of orthodox terminology when it could be surrendered without a
sacrifice of truth.
He did not live to see the end of the factional
disturbances and the complete success of his continued exertions in behalf of
the Church. He suffered from liver illness and his excessive asceticism seems
to have hastened him to an early death. A lasting monument of his episcopal
care for the poor was the great institute before the gates of Caesarea, which
was used as poorhouse, hospital, and hospice.
Let us pray: 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 steadfast in the confession of this faith, and constant in our worship
of you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; who live and reign for ever and ever. Amen.
CALENDAR REMINDERS
THIS SUNDAY IS FATHER’S DAY, remember
Dad!
SAFEGUARDING GOD’S CHILDREN, Saturday,
23 June at 10:00 a.m. in Sutton Hall at St. Augustine’s.
PLEASE REMEMBER EVERYONE ON OUR
PRAYER LIST.
Your servant in Christ,
Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal
Church
Galveston, Texas 77550
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