The devil is very good at taking things that are good and beautiful, and twisting them into something evil and ugly. God though, is even better at untwisting them to reveal the original goodness and beauty that He gave them. Such is the case with a feast that we will celebrate on this coming Saturday (1/30).
Basil the Great was given the gift of explaining the both the life of God, and the life that God wishes us to live. Gregory the Theologian had a deep and abiding relationship with God that was revealed in his teachings. John Chrysostom moved hearts and minds with his comforting and convicting preaching. They were of one mind in teaching about Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ. All three lived about 300 years after Jesus, and played very important roles in the growth of the Church.
Many years later, the devil succeeded in beginning to harm the good and unified work they did by convincing people to take the good they saw in these three great hierarchs (bishops), and use it as a weapon against each other. People took their eyes off of Christ, the subject of these men’s zealous labor, and focused on the men themselves. They began to argue over which of the three was the greatest. Our Lord healed this evil competition by sending these three Holy Hierarchs in a dream to the bishop of a town near where they had lived. They told this bishop “There are no divisions among us, and no opposition to one another”. A feast day was then established so that we can celebrate all three on the same day. This is why we still love to celebrate the feast of the Three Holy Hierarchs.
Saturday, January 23 –
