THE CIRCUMCISION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST THE FEAST OF ST. BASIL THE GREAT

On January 1/14, the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates New Year's Day, The Circumcision of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Feast of St. Basil the Great.

God had commanded circumcision as far back as the time of Abraham. Therefore, on the eighth day after His birth, He was circumcised, like all other Jewish boys, and was named Jesus (the Saviour). "And when eight days were fulfilled for His circumcision His Name was called Jesus, the Name given Him by the Angel before He was conceived in the womb" (Luke 1 : 31; 2 : 21) Thus, it was God's chosen Name for His chosen Son. The word Christ means the Anointed One. Anointing with oil was God's way of consecrating a person As our Christian names are given to us when we are baptized, so the Israelite boys had their names given at their circumcision.

Also, on January 1/14, the Orthodox Church celebrates the Feast of St. Basil the Great, a fourth-century Archbishop of Caesarea. This Saint established new rules of monastic life which are still followed by Orthodox monks He was also a great defender of the Orthodox Church against heresy. Being a gifted orator, writer and a righteous man, he wrote a Divine Liturgy. The Liturgy of St. Basil the Great is celebrated ten times each year - on Sundays of Great Lent, on the anniversary of his death (January 1/14, 379 A.D.), on Thursday and Saturday of Passion Week, and on the Eves of Christmas and the Feast of Jordan.