Monday, January 2, 2023

Memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, bishops and Doctors of the Church

(I John 2:22-28; John 1:19-280

The Church celebrates the Incarnation -- Christ becoming human – on Christmas.  It is, despite Santa Claus and Frosty the Snowman, a holy and glorious day.  But there is little time to reflect on how the Incarnation might happen during Christmas week.  On January 2, the day following the Christmas octave, such reflection is indicated with the Memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen.

The two bishops and theologians lived during the fourth century when people literally fought over different interpretations of the Incarnation.  They were best of friends when they studied together in Athens.  Basil defended the Church’s Nicene teaching against Arianism, a widespread and deeply rooted heresy claiming that Jesus was not God.  Gregory engaged in the controversy against the more sophisticated heresy of Apollinarianism.  Apollinaris, the bishop who formulated the heresy, taught that Jesus was a divine spirit inhabiting a human body.  Gregory claimed the contrary when he taught that “what is not assumed is not redeemed.”  In other words, if the Son did not have a human soul, the human soul cannot be redeemed.

We believe that Jesus is our redeemer because of the testimony of writers like John in today’s first reading.  He tells us of how people experienced Jesus’ saving power.  We also accept the Church’s teaching on the Incarnation because it follows quite logically from the teachings of thinkers like Basil and Gregory.