“Come, then, soldier of Christ… Follow the Heavenly Bridegroom; withstand the onset of invisible foes; wage war against principalities and powers, driving them out first from your own Soul… Earth did not accept you as a citizen, but Heaven will welcome you. The world persecuted you, but the Angels will bear you aloft to the presence of Christ. You will even be called friend by Him and will hear the longed for word of commendation: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, brave soldier and imitator of the Lord, follower of the King, I shall reward you with My own Gifts and I shall pay heed to your words even as you did to Mine.'”
“Do not say, ‘this happened by chance, while this came to be of itself.’ In all that exists there is nothing disorderly, nothing indefinite, nothing without purpose, nothing by chance… How many hairs are on your head? God will not forget one of them. Do you see how nothing, even the smallest thing, escapes the gaze of God?”
“If in all of this there is sorrow to be borne, I trust in the Lord that it will not be without its use to you.”
Saint Basil dearly loved and cared for every single person, and he established the first hospital to enable the continued care of sick people.
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January 19th – Commemoration of the Miracle wrought by Saint Basil the Great at Nicaea, when by his Prayer he opened the gates of the Church of the Orthodox
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Today we also keep the New Year Holy Tradition of Saint Basil Bread, where he Blessed and distributed bread to the people of his city, to return to them their coins and other possessions. Read this beautiful story about the beginning of this tradition.
