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.
