SAINT BASIL
St. Basil the "Great" (329-379 AD) was born in Cappodocia in Asia
Minor, now modern-day Turkey. He was known as a talented thinker,
organizer and reformer. He did much to help spread Christianity.
Around the age of 26 he gave up his wealth and a promising career to
become a monk. He was soon joined by others. Using his great
organizing ability, St. Basil founded many monasteries.
St. Basil loved people deeply and did all he could to ease their
sufferings. He gave away many of his belongings to the poor, and urged
other wealthy people to do the same. He told them that rich people were
merely the stewards or caretakers of the wealth they had been granted by
God.
In 374, St. Basil became the Bishop of Caesarea and the Church called
upon him to defend orthodox Christianity against Arianism, a heretical
type of Christianity promoted by the emperor. This brand of Christianity
stressed that Jesus was not God. St. Basil wrote against the heresy and
preached to crowds about the importance of the Trinity and the
Incarnation. After the emperor died, Arianism weakened.
St. Basil showed that he loved and cared for people in many ways. He
established a hospital for sick people. He built an inn for people who
were passing through his city with no place to stay. St. Basil also
organized a food kitchen to distribute food and meals to the needy and
assisted in prison reform. He corrected priests and bishops who were
setting a bad example.
Using his writing talents, St. Basil created solemn lyrical forms of prayer
that are still used today by the Russian Orthodox and Eastern churches.
The feast of St. Basil is celebrated January 2nd