Eighth Day of Christmas, St. Basil: A Proper Bishop
By Father Lawrence Farley St. Basil lived and worked in the fourth century, when the Church was just starting to work hand in glove with the Roman state. The new relationship took some getting used to: before this, the Christians tried to avoid the State and its police whenever they could, since the coming of the Roman police (i.e. soldiers) was often a prelude to Christian martyrdom. Now the Roman State was everywhere inclined to