On the eighth day after His Nativity, our Lord Jesus Christ was circumcised in accordance with the Old Testament Law. All male infants underwent circumcision as a sign of God’s Covenant with the holy Forefather Abraham and his descendants [Genesis 17:10-14, Leviticus 12:3]. After this…
Saint Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, “belongs not to the Church of Caesarea alone, nor merely to his own time, nor was he of benefit only to his own kinsmen, but rather to all lands and cities worldwide, and to all people he brought and still brings benefit, and for…
Saint Basil lived in the time of Julian the Apostate (331-363), and confessed his faith in Christ before the governor Saturninus. He was tortured in Ancyra, then sent to Constantinople, where he was suspended from a tree, stretched on a rack, beaten, then stabbed with red-hot needles. He was also…
Saint Basil the Great’s mother Saint Emilia was the daughter of a martyr. On the Greek calendar, she is commemorated on May 30. Saint Basil’s father was also named Basil. He was a lawyer and renowned rhetorician, and lived at Caesarea. Ten children were born to the elder Basil and…
On the Feast of Saint Basil the Great, we commemorate an Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos known as "You are a Vineyard," because on this day, through her Icon, the Most Holy Theotokos healed an unbelieving man of an incurable disease. After he was healed, he began to believe. Later, the Icon flowed…
Saint Telemakhos (Telémakhos) was a monk who lived in the V century during the reign of Emperor Honorius. He traveled from Asia to Rome desiring to save the city. He was opposed to the gladiatorial contests which took place in the amphitheaters, and so he rushed to the Colosseum and shouted for…