The first day of the Forefeast of Theophany falls on January 2. Like the hymns for the Nativity, many of the Church’s hymns of this period are slightly modified versions of the hymns of Holy Week.
St George (Zorzes) was from Georgia, and was sold into slavery when he was young. His master, a Muslim from the Greek island of Mytilene, forced him to embrace Islam and renamed him Sali.
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“While I am alive,” he once said, “there will be no fire, but when I die, my death shall be revealed by a fire.” When they opened the door, it appeared that books and other things were smoldering. St Seraphim was found kneeling before an icon of the Mother of God with his arms crossed on his chest. His pure soul was taken by the angels at the time of prayer, and had flown off to the Throne of the Almighty God, Whose faithful servant St Seraphim had been all his life.
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Saint Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, “belongs not to the Church of Caesarea alone, nor merely to his own time, nor was he of benefit only to his own kinsmen, but rather to all lands and cities worldwide, and to all people he brought and still brings benefit, and for Christians he always was and will be a most salvific teacher.” Thus spoke St Basil’s contemporary, St Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium.
Saint Basil lived in the time of Julian the Apostate (331-363), and confessed his faith in Christ before the governor Saturninus.
