Saints Basil & Gregory Nanzianzen Jan. 2nd

 

Today, the Church celebrates the memorial of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen, who lived from the early to middle 300’s and are both doctors of the Church.

Today’s first reading from the letter of St. John states, “Who is the liar? Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ? Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist.” An anti-Christ in the early Church was one who denied well-known doctrines about Christ and His Church and especially denied the divinity of Christ.

During the time of Saints Gregory and Basil, Bishop Arius taught Jesus is “like” the Father, but less than the Father. He denied the divinity of Jesus.

Saints Basil and Gregory were mutual friends and both defended the divinity of Jesus, Bishop Arius, who was “like” an anti-Christ, because he taught Jesus was not divine.

Born in Turkey, St. Basil resolved to devote his life to God. In a letter he wrote, he said, “I had wasted much time on follies and spent nearly all my youth in labors. Suddenly I awoke as out of a deep sleep. I beheld the wonderful light of the Gospel truth… I shed a flood of tears over my wretched life, and I prayed for a guide form in me the principles of piety.”

He was baptized and sought spiritual advice from the ascetics in the desert. He gave his wealth to the poor, and returned to an austere life in the desert. Others began to follow his way of life, and so, a monastic movement of monks grew in the east. He later became known as the “father of eastern monasticism”. His younger brother Gregory of Nyssa, and his friend Gregory of Nazianzen, and Basil made up a trio of teachers of the faith.

St. Gregory comes from a family of saints. His mother St. Nonna and his brother St. Ceaesarius are also saints. Gregory was ordained a priest and then joined Basil’s monks in the desert. He was later named bishop of Nazianzen. St. Gregory was an eloquent preacher and poet. Gregory and Basil, as friends and bishops of the Church, both battled the Arian heresy and strived for virtue together. Because Gregory, so eloquently, wrote many theological treatises and sermons defending the divinity of Jesus, he became known as “The theologian”.

St. Gregory always emphasized that a good life was necessary to understand the truth about God. He said, “If you want to become a theologian. --Keep the commandments. Conduct is the step to contemplation.”

Today, if we want to know God and the truth about Him, let us strive for virtue, and to live a good life, and ask saints Basil and Gregory to pray for us, that with Mary, may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.