Saturday, June 14, 2008

St Basil the Great

Being rather overtired, I slept in and missed Mass for St Basil the Great, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor - or, as the Easterners name him, Our Father among the Saints, Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia; here at least is his troparion:

Thy sound is gone out into all the earth, for it hath received thy word, whereby thou didst divinely teach, explaining the nature of creation and adorning the customs of men: O holy Father, venerable Basil, pray thou to Christ our God for the salvation of our souls.

The splendid praises sung in his honour by the Byzantine Rite (on the 1st of January, at Vespers, Matins and Liturgy) can be accessed at Anastasis, here.

I cannot omit, however, reproducing this most remarkable idiomel sticheron (sung at Vespers), which compares Basil to - a bee...

O godly and sacred bee of Christ’s Church, all-blessed Basil; for you armed yourself with the sting of divine longing and wounded the blasphemies of heresies hated by God; and you treasured up for the souls of the faithful the sweetness of true religion; and now, as you pass through the divine meadows of inviolate pasture, remember us also as you stand before the consubstantial Trinity.

Guéranger informs me that the Latin Church celebrates St Basil on the day of his ordination, the 14th of June; whereas the Greek Church feasts him on the day of his death, or rather of his entry into eternal life, the 1st of January.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, I got my days all muddled up and said the Office for St Basil on both Saturday (correct), but also Friday!

Of course, we did.. um... *ahem* have a Pontifical High Mass... ;-p

Joshua said...

Yes, for our last Pontifical High Mass here in Perth, which was for a wedding, yours truly and my mate Justin had to sing the chant - alone!

Anonymous said...

Eeek!

Well, this was the huge one in London, with Card. Castrillón-Hoyos. Truly a day never to forget!