Tag: Arianism

The Gospel this week (Luke 13:25-33) was all about what it means to follow Christ and to have Him as Lord over your life, in first place before anything or anyone.  Doing this, as hard as it is, is also immensely freeing since it results in the things of life being put back into their proper order.

As I was thinking about this, I was reminded of the story of St. Basil.  Now here was a man with his priorities straight!  Basil is known as the father of Oriental monasticism and a forerunner of St. Benedict. Though his ascetic training Basil had very clear ideas about what was truly important in life. This clarity would be needed the day a representative from the Emperor came to visit…

The Emperor Valens was a resolute supporter of the Arians, those who said Jesus was created by and inferior to God the Father. The Emperor Valens had plantedArianism in other provinces of Asia Minor and came to Cappadocia withthe same aim. He sent the Prefect Modestus to Bishop Basil in order to convince him to join the Arians.  Modestus threatened Basil with ruin, exile, torture and even death if he didn’t fall in line.  Basil’s response was priceless:

Read more