Chapter 1: What dilemma does Basil face with the emperor's army?
Onesi, 370 A.D. Modesta stands at Basil's door with the emperor's army behind him. Now Basil must choose, profess the Arian creed and become a heretic or condemn his whole monastery to martyrdom.
The Saints Adventures of Faith and Courage Basil the Great Episode 5, Theophany. Listen to all the episodes and discover new shows at thesaintspodcast.com.
Modestus, I will not profess the Arian creed, and I will remain here with my people.
Then my orders are to bring you to Constantinople. The emperor demands it.
Chapter 2: What are the consequences of Basil refusing the Arian creed?
Why would the Emperor and Arian drag Christian bishops into his court to be mocked and made into heretics?
The Emperor desires your loyalty. These factions and false versions of Christianity are corrupting the minds of his subjects and dividing them against him. Will you pledge fealty and profess the Arian creed or not?
Are you a Christian, Modestus?
It is of no concern to you. I am the prefect of the Emperor, and I am to bring you with me to Constantinople. For what purpose? You are to be brought before the Emperor. He will judge you. And if I refuse? There is no refusal. So you will arrest me and take me to him by force? The Emperor desires willing subjects. You are a bishop. People follow you.
Should you not subject yourself to the authority placed over you as your apostle commands in Scripture?
I will not go.
You will not? Then all of your possessions will be burned into ash. You will be exiled to the farthest reaches of the earth to waste away in filth. You will be beaten, senseless along the way, and tortured until you beg for the mercy of the Great Emperor. You will die alone, with nothing, in despair and only yourself to blame.
If you take away my possessions, you will not enrich yourself, nor will you make me a pauper. You have no need of my old worn-out clothing, nor of my few books of which the entirety of my wealth is comprised. Exile means nothing to me. I am bound to no particular place. This monastery is not mine, but every place is God's. Who can torture me?
I am so weak that the very first blow would render me insensible. Death would be a kindness to me, for it would bring me to God all the sooner. What gives you the right to talk to a prefect of the emperor like this? Insolence! I am a bishop. In all else, bishops are meek, the most humble of all. But when it concerns God, a bishop must count everything else as nothing and look to God alone.
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Chapter 3: How does Basil respond to threats of persecution?
Will you incur the emperor's wrathful judgment with all the force of the Roman army?
What of you, Modestus? Do you fear the emperor? He has the rightful authority. Will he be your divine judge? Or, if you drag away Christian prelates, will the true emperor, the crucified king of the Jews and the king of all the world, bring you before the throne of angels and judge you according to what you have done? Which judge do you fear, Modestus?
The one who can kill the body, or the one who can throw body and soul into hell? You could still turn to the Crucified King, Modestus. He is merciful.
You have not seen the last of us. Come on, men. Form ranks. We're marching on.
Gregory, Macrina, get everyone inside the church. No one was killed, thank God.
They will return.
And we will do as we always have done. Everyone, listen to me. We find ourselves despondent at the hands of greedy men who would take our lives and our homes from us. But they can take nothing from us, for we have nothing to give except for the love of God, which no power in heaven or on earth can strip from us. Why should we fear the rich and powerful?
Because they will bury us under six feet of earth? Isn't that the fate that awaits us already? They persecute us because they fear the one who sits upon the judgment seat. Wherever they turn, they see the images of their misdeeds, the tears of orphans, the widows' groanings, the poor they stepped on. What should I say to them? You don't desire the kingdom? You don't fear hell?
If horrors don't terrify, if glories don't attract, I am speaking to a heart of stone. Let us then prepare ourselves for burial, and let us in any case do the things Christ has directed us to do, so that we may become inheritors of everlasting life.
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