Friendship in Late Antiquity: the Case of Gregory Nazianzen and Basil the Great
I.Introduction: Classical and Christian Friendship One thing we should expect to find unchanged when we look at the new world that emerges during the Christianization of the Greco-Roman Empire is the fact that people continue to form friendships and, as friendship often leads to, continue to consider and reflect on the nature of friendship as […]
The Life of Saint Basil the Great
The Life of Saint Basil the Great (January 1st)
January 1st: The Dual Feast of Saint Basil the Great and the Circumcision of Christ
The feast of the Circumcision of Christ and the feast of Saint Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesaria Cappadocia
Basil the Great and Disfigured Christianity
I want to speak on Saint Basil, but I don’t want to say what is commonly told by those who write about this truly “Great” saint. Especially some theologians who are educated by the Franks, who don’t care at all about his holiness or his wisdom according to God, but rather his “classical” wisdom, his […]
Saint Basil on Human Trafficking
Christianity has uprooted many barbaric customs from the society of man. But some of those customs – praiseworthy from the pagan point of view, but shameful from the Christian point of view – are, even to the present day, like hidden corruption oozing from a supposedly healed wound. One of these customs is the unlawful […]
Miracle of Saint Basil the Great against the Arians
While the wicked Emperor Valens was in Nicaea, prominent Arians approached him requesting that he drive the Orthodox from the cathedral and give it to them. The ruler, himself a heretic, forcibly removed the faithful and allowed the dissenters to occupy the building, after which he left for the Imperial City. The entire community of […]
About Fasting, Sermon 2, by Saint Basil the Great
About Fasting, Sermon 2. “Exhort the people, priests,” it says; “speak into the ears of Jerusalem.” The nature of that word “exhort” is enough to intensify the desires of the earnest, but also to stir to readiness those who are idle and careless. That’s how commanders operate. They marshal the army into place, and […]
About Fasting, Sermon 1, by Saint Basil the Great
Our Holy Father Basil, Archbishop of Caesarea, Cappadocia. About Fasting (De jejunio), Sermon 1. [31.164] 1. “Sound the trumpet,” he declares, “in the new moon, on the high day of your feast.” This command is from the prophets. But it’s for us, too. The reading indicates the beginning of the feast days, and to […]