St. Basil the Great
(compilation
by Pres. Candace
for
a Junior Sunday School class)
St Basil was born in Cappadocia, which is in Asia Minor
(modern day Turkey), in 329 AD. His whole family was devout and God-loving. His
grandfather was martyred for not denying his faith in Jesus Christ; he was torn
apart by hungry lions. His grandmother Macrina told Basil and his brothers and
sisters this story of courage and faith in order to strengthen their own
Christian faith.
St Basil's parents were called Basil and Emmelia, they had
six children. This was a most blessed family because both parents and all
of the children became Saints in the Orthodox Church.
St Macrina was the oldest child, three of the boys became
bishops. St. Basil became Bishop of Caesarea, St Gregory became Bishop of Nyssa
and St Peter became Bishop of Sebaste. Basil's family had a good position in
society, they had plenty of property and were wealthy.
Basil grew up and went to university, he studied Greek
Literature, rhetoric (the art of speaking or writing well) and philosophy. He
combined the ancient Greek spirit with his Orthodox Christian Faith. St. Basil
is celebrated along with St. John Chrysostom and St. Gregory the Theologian as
Saints of Education on 30 January.
St. Basil was tall, thin and had a long beard. He ate no
more than was absolutely necessary for his survival; his food was poor and
simple. He chose never to eat meat. He had just a couple pieces of
clothing which were well worn, this again, being his choice. St. Basil
believed that we should be in control of ourselves at all times and have a
blessed life of prayer. He said that we should season our daily work with the singing
of spiritual songs (hymns) the same way that we season our food with salt when
we cook. He said that the sacred songs can only lift us up and give us
joy and not sadness. Basil loved all people and devoted his life to helping all
those in need; he was also a fighter for God's Truth. At the age of 28, St.
Basil became a monk; at 35, he was ordained a priest and at 41, he was made
Bishop of Caesarea.
Philanthropist is a Greek word meaning “friend of people”
(philo + anthropos). St. Basil had great wealth but this did not interest him.
Instead, he sold all his possessions and used the money to build orphanages,
hospitals, homes for the aged, schools and monasteries. Our church has an
organization named in honor of St. Basil—do you know what it is called? It
is called “Philoptochos,” and it means “friend of the poor,” (philo +
ptochos).
St. Basil was full of love and compassion for others—he was
known to plead for mercy and forgiveness from the emperor on behalf of those in
trouble or for those who had made mistakes. Another time, after an earthquake,
he worked for days without sleep to dig through rubble with his own hands to
save those who were trapped; he helped the injured and urged everyone to share
their food with those who had none. St. Basil stood by the people and
encouraged them throughout the catastrophe; he planted food in new areas and
helped prevent the starvation of the people. After these things, St. Basil was
made Bishop of Caesarea.
St Basil was responsible for starting monasteries where
groups of monks live, work, worship, pray and dedicate their lives to God
together. Up until that time, many monks lived as hermits (on their own) and
not in communities. St. Basil devised strict rules for monks to follow, in
order to live with each other and serve God properly.
St Basil was not worried about offending anyone when it came
to saying or doing what was right. His views often clashed with that of the
emperor. One time, the emperor sent his prefect Modestus, with orders to make
St. Basil support the false belief of Arius (also known as the Arian heresy) or
resign from the Church. St. Basil refused to obey. Modestus threatened him and
told St. Basil that he should fear him because he had the power to do anything
he liked to him. Modestos told St. Basil that he could take his possessions,
exile him, torture him and put him to death. St Basil said that these things
did not trouble him. He said, "take my possessions, I have none except for
the worn clothing I wear. Exile me, for wherever I go I am at home as all of
the earth belongs to God. Torture me, I am already ill and weak and will not
last long to be tortured. Kill me? I welcome death as it will bring me to God
much sooner." Modestus was stunned by St Basil's answers and said that no
bishop had ever spoken like this to him. St Basil replied that perhaps he had
never met a real bishop before.
A saint's feast day is on the day he or she dies and goes to
be with God—St. Basil died on January 1, 379. We remember and celebrate his
memory on that day.
On January 1, we remember St. Basil’s day with vasilopita, a
sweet bread dedicated to St. Basil. It has a coin baked inside.
Why?
The Emperor Julian the Apostate (what is an apostate—do you
know?) It is someone who once followed the Orthodox Christian Faith and
has turned away from it. The Emperor Julian was once a schoolmate of St.
Basil’s in Athens and they had studied the same things—even the Holy
Scriptures. However, instead of staying close to his Christian Faith,
Julian turned away from it and his heart became cold and ugly toward God and
the Christians.
Emperor Julian had a very high opinion of himself (that is
called “pride”) and he marched off to war against the Persians with his troops
with a plan to conquer both lands and people. He sent a letter to St.
Basil who was Archbishop of Caesarea at that time. Although Julian and
St. Basil knew each other for years, St. Basil did say the Julian was an unfit
emperor and for good reason. The Emperor’s letter stated that he required
that St. Basil deliver one thousand pounds of gold to him by messenger.
He threatened that if he did not do this, Julian would destroy all the buildings
of Caesarea and in their place, erect temples and statues of Roman gods in
their place to humble the people and exalt himself. Julian then closed
his letter saying, “I have learned to know and condemn that which I once read,”
in other words, he told St. Basil he rejected the Christian Faith he once
received.
St. Basil did not waste time in writing back to Emperor
Julian saying that his actions and words were shameful and that he disgraced
the empire by his words and threats that sounded high and mighty but were
actually the work of demons—in that Julian would insult the Church and lift
himself up against God. He went on to say how badly he felt for the ruin
of Julian’s soul after they had studied the Holy Scriptures together and for
the choices Julian was making. He commented that if Julian had understood
what he read, he never would have condemned it.
St. Basil went on to mention that he lived in poverty and
that Julian was aware of it. Nevertheless, St. Basil put together an
offering for the Emperor from what he had—three barley loaves which would have
been St. Basil’s food. Julian accepted the gift, but in return, he gave
St. Basil an insulting gift—grass from a pasture.
St. Basil responded by saying that he gave a gift from among
the best he had to eat—from his own table and Julian had done the same.
This response, of course, angered Emperor Julian very much.
Julian then threatened, “When I return from Persia, I will
indeed burn down your city and take prisoner the foolish people there who have
been led astray by you because you dishonor the gods (idols) whom I worship and
you, too, shall receive a just reward!”
After returning to the city, St. Basil called the people to
himself. He told them about the emperor’s threats and counseled them
saying, “Don’t grieve, fellow Christians, but consider what money you need to
live on and bring whatever excess you have that we might gather it all together
in one place. Then, when we hear the emperor is returning, we shall cast
heaps of money onto the road, that when he sees all the treasure, as the lover
of money that he is, he will accept the offering and not follow through on his
plan.”
Therefore, the Christians brought together a great deal of
wealth, gold, silver and precious stones. The items were placed under the
care of the Church.
When St. Basil learned the Julian and the army were on their
way back from war, he called together the multitude of Christians from Caesarea
and commanded them to keep a three day fast. Afterwards, he and the faithful
went to the summit of the mountain called Didymos, to the Church of the Most
Holy Theotokos. There they prayed together that the will of the emperor
would be changed and that the people might remain safe.
During that time, St. Basil received a heavenly
vision. He saw hosts of heaven (angels) encircling the mountain where
they were praying. He also saw a woman enthroned with great glory.
She said to the angels standing by, “Call Mercurios to me so that he might go
and slay Julian the enemy of my Son.” Who was the woman? The Holy
Theotokos, of course! St. Basil then saw the holy Great Martyr Mercurios
come and take up his weapons and leave.
After this vision, St. Basil left the mountain with some of
the clergy and went back into the city where the church of the holy Great
Martyr Mercurios was. Within that church were the relics (bones) of St.
Mercurios and his weapons which were venerated or honored by the
Christians. One hundred years had passed since St. Mercurios’ martyrdom
in Caesarea. Upon entering the church, St. Basil could not find the
Saint’s relics nor weapons. He asked the keeper of the church’s vessels
and he knew nothing about what had happened. The Saint then realized that
the vision he had seen was true and on that same night, June 26, 363, the
ungodly apostate emperor was slain. Saint Basil then returned to the
mountain and announced, “Rejoice and be glad today, Christians! Our
prayers have been heard, a fitting punishment has come upon the ungodly
emperor. Let us offer thanks to God and go into the city, that each may
receive back his money.”
When the Christians heard this, they cried with one voice,
“We thought to give the money to the ungodly emperor in exchange for our
lives. Now, shouldn’t we offer these gifts to the King of heaven and
earth who granted us our lives?” Now, St. Basil praised their
eagerness. He determined, however, that each should receive back
one-third of their contribution. The remainder of the money went to help
the poor.
Regarding the portion of wealth that was returned, St. Basil
had one-third of the treasure baked into large loaves of sweet bread, which
were cut and shared among the people. That is why we make Vasilopita (St.
Basil’s bread) each year on January 1 and a coin is baked inside to remind us
of St. Basil and what happened to the people of Caesarea in the four
century. The bread is blessed, the first piece cut is for our Lord, the
second for the Theotokos and then for the poor and then to each member of the
family. If the coin is in the piece for the Lord or the Theotokos, it is
given to the church. If it is in the piece for the poor, give it to your
church Philoptochos group.
There
are other episodes in St. Basil’s life that we could recount, but this will
have to do for now.
What do you think made St. Basil so great? Very few people
in history have been given the title of "Great". Alexander the Great
was so called because he conquered the world of his time. But St. Basil was
called "Great" because he conquered (won over) the hearts and souls
of men for Jesus Christ. He dedicated his life and all he had to fully loving
and serving God and God honored him greatly because of it and countless numbers
of people benefited from St. Basil’s love and generosity.
St Basil, pray that we too may be unattached to personal
things (possessions), become humble, compassionate, and loving toward others
and burn with love for God. Let us also be courageous in defending the
One, True, Orthodox Christian Faith like you did. St. Basil, pray to God for
us!
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