ST. BASIL THE GREAT

BIOGRAPHICAL INFO.

• Born: 330 AD
• Where: Kayseri, Turkey
• Died: Jan. 1 379 AD
• How: liver disease
• Where: Caesarea, Israel

FEATS DAY, PATRONAGE, ETC.

• Western feast day: Jan. 2
• Eastern feast day: Jan. 1
• Patron saint of hospital administrators

FACTS ABOUT HIM..

• He was 1 out of 10 children
• He practiced law in Caesarea
• He became a monk and opened multiple monasteries
• He was responsible for the victory of Nicene orthodoxy over Arianism in the Byzantine East, and the denunciation of Arianism at the Council of Constantinople in 381-82 was in large measure due to his efforts.
• He was made bishop of Caesarea in 370 AD

To communicate each day and to partake of the holy Body and Blood of Christ is good and beneficial; for He says quite plainly: "He that eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life." Who can doubt that to share continually in life is the same thing as having life abundantly? We ourselves communicate four times each week…and on other days if there is a commemoration of any saint. (Letter of Basil to a Patrician Lady Caesaria)

EUCHARISTIC QUOTES

• "Truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you."217
• They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. . . . Day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts.168
• Christ calls himself the bread of life, come down from heaven.165

3 BIBLICAL QUOTES

• 19 * j Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.”
• 47 Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life.
• 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.k