On Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter our Church invites us to first read and reflect on a passage from the book of Revelation (13:1-18) entitled "The two beasts". Our treasure, which follows, is from the book On the Holy Spirit by Saint Basil the Great, bishop.
Saint Basil the Great was a fourth century Church Father and a Doctor of the Church. Because of the majesty and keenness of his eloquence, he is honored as "the revealer of heavenly things" and "the Great". He was an early Roman Christian prelate who served as Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia from 370 until his death in 379..
He was an influential theologian who supported the Nicene Creed and opposed heresies of the early Christian church, especially Arianism. (Arianism taught that Jesus Christ was not divine). In addition to his work as a theologian, Saint Basil was known for his care of the poor and underprivileged. Basil established guidelines for monastic life which focus on community life, liturgical prayer, and manual labor.
In On the Holy Spirit, Saint Basil the Great offers a powerful defense of the Church's teaching on the Holy Spirit, showing the Spirit's role in guiding believers and sustaining the life of the Church. This timeless work articulates the Orthodox understanding of the Trinity, emphasizing the Spirit's equality with the Father and the Son.
Praised by his friend Saint Gregory of Nazianzus as a "noble champion of the truth" and a "second Joseph" for his care for the needy, Basil's wisdom and holiness shine through in this work. He combines theological depth with practical insights, encouraging readers to seek a deeper relationship with the Spirit through prayer, ascetic discipline, and acts of charity.
The Apocalypse, or Revelation to John, the last book of the Bible, is one of the most difficult to understand because it abounds in unfamiliar and extravagant symbolism, which at best appears unusual to the modern reader. Symbolic language, however, is one of the chief characteristics of apocalyptic literature, of which this book is an outstanding example. Such literature enjoyed wide popularity in both Jewish and Christian circles from ca. 200 B.C. to A.D. 200.
This book contains an account of visions in symbolic and allegorical language borrowed extensively from the Old Testament, especially Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Daniel. Whether or not these visions were real experiences of the author or simply literary conventions employed by him is an open question.
