Venerable Basil the New (+c. 944)

The Venerable Basil the New (+c. 944) withdrew into the desert while still young. Once some courtiers of the Byzantine emperor who were passing by noticed him dressed in rags, took him for a suspicious character, seized him and brought him to the capital. The venerable father was interrogated by the patrician Samson. Basil concealed who he was and said that he was a wanderer. Samson ordered the saint to be punished. Basil was beaten with dried ox sinews and hung head downwards from a tree, but they could not get a word out of him. The reason for the venerable father’s silence was that he did not wish to display in public the good deeds he had laboured at all his life. Samson took Saint Basil for a sorcerer and threw him to a hungry lion to be devoured. The beast lay down meekly at the saint’s feet. Then the Venerable Basil was thrown into the sea. The all-merciful Lord again protected His chosen one: two dolphins brought him to the seventh wall of Constantinople, the Hebdomon. The holy father’s fetters fell away, and he entered the capital entirely free. As Basil sat down to rest at the entrance to the city, a man named John, who was sick with fever, came up to him. Through the holy father’s prayer the sick man was healed. John invited the venerable father to his home. His good deeds, his charity, his life as a hermit and his gift of healing the sick did not stay hidden. A great many people came to him for advice and for healing. Saint Basil denounced sinners and called them to repentance, and foretold the future to many. Among those who came was a certain Gregory, who became his disciple and wrote the saint’s life.

When Theodora, Saint Basil’s servant, died, Gregory asked the venerable father to reveal to him the life after death of the departed. Through Saint Basil’s prayer Theodora appeared to Gregory in his sleep and told him how her soul had passed through the toll-houses after death and how Saint Basil’s prayer had helped her (the Venerable Theodora is commemorated on 30 December).

The Venerable Basil died around 944, at the age of 110. The Church calls him the New to distinguish him from other saints of the same name.