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01. JANUARY |
Circumcision of Our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ |
| The eighth day following His birth, the Divine Child was presented
in the Temple and circumcised according to the Law existing
in Israel since the time of Abraham. On this occasion, He was
given the name Jesus, which the Archangel Gabriel announced
to the All-Holy Virgin Mary. The Old Testament circumcision
was the proto-type of the New Testament baptism. The circumcision
of our Lord shows that He received upon Himself the true body
of man and not just seemingly, as was later taught of Him by
heretics. Our Lord was also circumcised because He wanted to
fulfill the entire Law which He Himself gave through the prophets
and forefathers. In fulfilling the written Law, He replaced
it with Baptism in His Holy Church as was proclaimed by the
Apostle Paul: "For neither does circumcision mean anything,
nor does uncircumcision, but only a new creation" (Galatians
6:15). (In the cycle of the liturgical calendar of the Church,
this Feast of the Lord's Circumcision has neither a Forefeast
nor an Antefeast). |
Saint Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea |
| Basil was born during the reign of Emperor Constantine. While
still unbaptized, Basil spent fifteen years in Athens where
he studied philosophy, rhetoric, astronomy and all other secular
sciences of that time. His colleagues at that time were Gregory
the Theologian and Julian, later the apostate emperor. In his
mature years he was baptized in the river Jordan along with
Euvlios his former teacher. He was Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia
for almost ten years and completed his earthly life fifty years
after his birth. He was a great defender of Orthodoxy, a great
light of moral purity, a religious zealot, a great theological
mind, a great builder and pillar of the Church of God. Basil
fully deserved the title "Great".In liturgical services,
he is referred to as the "bee of the Church of Christ which
brings honey to the faithful and with its stinger pricks the
heretics. Numerous works of this Father of the Church are preserved;
they include theological, apologetical, ascetical and canonical
writings as well as the Holy and Divine Liturgy named after
him. This Divine Liturgy is celebrated ten times throughout
the year: the First of January, his feast day; on the eve of
the Nativity of our Lord; on the eve of the Epiphany of our
Lord; all Sundays of the Honorable Fast (Lenten Season), except
Palm Sunday; on Great and Holy Thursday and on Great and Holy
Saturday. St. Basil died peacefully on January 1, 379 A.D.,
and was translated into the Kingdom of Christ.(see January 30th) |
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