Ss. Basil the Great & Gregory of Nazianzen

St. Basil The Great

St. Gregory of Nazianzen

Every 2 January the Church celebrates the feast of 2 saints together, Basil the Great & Gregory of Nazianzen. The reason they share a day is because of their great friendship. Basil & Gregory are both considered fathers of the Church as well as doctors of the Church because of their writings.

St. Basil the Great was born 329 AD at Caesarea, Asia Minor (part of Modern Turkey. He was born into a very holy & devout Christian family who were a part of the nobility of the time. His mother St. Emmelia, father , and four of his nine siblings were canonized, including St. Gregory of Nyssa (another Church father), St. Peter of Sebaste, and St. Macrina the Younger. He is the grandson of St. Macrina the Elder. he eventually went to Athens where he met St Gregory & they became fast friends. He was so popular as a speaker & teacher that fearing he would give into pride he became a priest & monk. He wrote the 1st rule for monostaries, The Rule of St. Basil that is till in use today. (Eeven St. Benedict had great rspect for the rule seeing his own rule as one for those who couldn't achieve the high standards od St. Basil's. He eventually became archbishop of Caesarea. (against his will & due to the urging of St. Gregory. As bishop he led the fight against Arianism in his diocese. He died there on 1 January 329 AD

St. Gregory of Nazianzen was born 330 AD at Arianzus, Cappadocia, Asia Minor. Like St. Basil he came from a holy Christian family. He was the son of St. Gregory of Nazianzen the Elder (bishop of Nazianos) and St. Nonna, and the brother of St. Caesar Nazianzen (another Church father), St. Gorgonius & St. Gorgonia. He ended up in Athens with St. Basil. He went on to become a priest. He fought against Arianism & was eventually named c0-adjutor by his father. He went on to eventually become bishop of Constantinople where his fighting against Arianism brought him great persecution. He died there 25 January 390.

For me these two saints are an example of how to live out true Christian friendship. Seeing how they lived out their friendship is an inspiration to me to try & follow their example with my friends. Rather than expound on their example I'll let you read St. Gregory's words on their friendship.

A sermon by St Gregory Nazianzen telling about how he met St. Basil the Great & they became friends.

Basil and I were both in Athens. We had come, like streams of a river, from the same source in our native land, had separated from each other in pursuit of learning, and were now united again as if by plan, for God so arranged it.

I was not alone at that time in my regard for my friend, the great Basil. I knew his irreproachable conduct, and the maturity and wisdom of his conversation. I sought to persuade others, to whom he was less well known, to have the same regard for him. Many fell immediately under his spell, for they had already heard of him by reputation and hearsay.

What was the outcome? Almost alone of those who had come to Athens to study he was exempted from the customary ceremonies of initiation for he was held in higher honour than his status as a first-year student seemed to warrant.

Such was the prelude to our friendship, the kindling of that flame that was to bind us together. In this way we began to feel affection for each other. When, in the course of time, we acknowledged our friendship and recognised that our ambition was a life of true wisdom, we became everything to each other: we shared the same lodging, the same table, the same desires the same goal. Our love for each other grew daily warmer and deeper.

The same hope inspired us: the pursuit of learning. This is an ambition especially subject to envy. Yet between us there was no envy. On the contrary, we made capital out of our rivalry. Our rivalry consisted, not in seeking the first place for oneself but in yielding it to the other, for we each looked on the other’s success as his own.

We seemed to be two bodies with a single spirit. Though we cannot believe those who claim that everything is contained in everything, yet you must believe that in our case each of us was in the other and with the other.

Our single object and ambition was virtue, and a life of hope in the blessings that are to come; we wanted to withdraw from this world before we departed from it. With this end in view we ordered our lives and all our actions. We followed the guidance of God’s law and spurred each other on to virtue. If it is not too boastful to say, we found in each other a standard and rule for discerning right from wrong.

Different men have different names, which they owe to their parents or to themselves, that is, to their own pursuits and achievements. But our great pursuit, the great name we wanted, was to be Christians, to be called Christians.