Saint Basil the Great was born in Caesarea in Cappadocia in the year 330. He was known for his learning and virtue, and his fight against the Arian heresy. He also wrote many wonderful works, the most revered of which is his monastic rule. He is known as the father of Eastern monasticism. Gregory Nazianzen was born in the same year. He too pursued learning and was eventually elected bishop of Constantinople. Basil and Gregory were friends, and Gregory reflected on their friendship in a sermon, of which I’d like to share some excerpts this morning.
“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.
“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 recognized 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.
“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.”
Like John the Baptist in our Gospel today, Basil and Gregory sought to point the way to Jesus, the one among us whom people do not recognize. It was their goal to help all to come to know him rightly, to make straight the way of the Lord. Their friendship led them deeper in that pursuit. Today, let’s reflect on our friendships and relationships, and give thanks for those who have led us deeper in our friendship with our Lord.