Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church

Christ is born!

It is quite coincidental and significant that we celebrate the day of St. Basil on the first day of the year. We know St. Basil lived his life of fifty years not wasting, from his wisdom which is manifested in his way of life, writings as well as homilies. He lived fully according to the will of God doubling his talent as our Lord teaches in the parable. Using his training in classical culture, both Greek and Latin, he unfolded the truth hidden in the life of the Orthodox Church. His life reminds us of the life as a gift from God which can be doubled by how we live our life. He greeted a new year fifty times in his life time. Each year is filled with the gift called life. Moreover, he concluded his life by returning it to the Life giver by doubling it. He is a good example to commemorate on the first day of the year so that we also may receive this coming year as a gift and return it to our Lord after making it double. If any one of us could not double it, then let us work doubly hard to please our Lord so that He would not regret that He granted us the life which we are living now and ever and unto the ages of ages.

The name of St. Basil is often quoted in theological books where he is remembered as the author of the Divine Liturgy which we celebrate today and a promulgator of the monastic rules of the Orthodox Church. It is unfortunate that he is not remembered as an "Orthodox Christian Life Liver", or rather the very person who lived the Orthodox Faith through and through.

In one of his homilies, he says that life is like a stream constantly coming out of an ever flowing fountain. Every moment of time witnesses the constant gushing of water. That is each moment of our life which our Lord is granting us. It is purer than the bottled water from the Rockies or any mountains in the world. The root of each one's life is pure even if it often gets tainted or muddy as it flows. It continues flowing every which way but nonetheless it continues flowing towards the assigned destination.

Time is commonly understood as a cycle based on the cycle of natural law, so a new year is just another cycle and new year's day as any another day this year. There is also a perspective which explains time as a line which is divided by yesterday, today and tomorrow, or past, present and future. St. Basil presents yet another sense of time which is dynamic, constantly beginning now. A time which begins now, flows ever unto ages of ages. A time which has no "past", rather it has "now and ever, unto ages of ages". It is the time which Christ our Lord began with His birth. Although it does not have "past", yet the past is incorporated into it. It records the past of this time in definite wording in the Scriptures. The Orthodox Church which has the root of this time is the most past conscious church, so it is called "traditional". However, it only records necessary events related to the time which begins now and flows ever unto ages of ages. The rest of the events are only allowed to be incorporated by being forgiven.

Each event in life is recorded in the book of life, but what is counted is what is relevant to the dynamic sense of time. The forgiveness of time can only happen when it is placed in this dynamic sense of time. You can gain time that is lost by way of recalling the dynamic sense of time. What is lost is gained by the process of recovery called repentance. Everything, good and evil, should be revealed and sanctified by the act of recovery of the original purpose of life, not in the past, but now, in the present, then evil is done away with, whereas good is left.

The understanding of time as taught by St. Basil shows us that the past is only meaningful as long as it is incorporated into the dynamic notion of time in Christ. Especially the mistakes of the past are taken up and corrected by being washed in the gushing out of the living water which is flowing now. Behold, everything is new. Everyday is a new day.

Our confession recalls this sense of time where forgiveness means the positive acceptance of mistakes for the upcoming time. A new time is constantly gushing out of the belly of life. It will not repeat simply for the sake of time. The childish attitude of "That was fun. Let's do it again" reverts time which goes against the gushing out of life, trapping the childish holder of this mentality in repetition rather than allowing growth. The past is only remembered in this context, otherwise it makes one bitter as the incident of Lot's wife. The taste of salt is salty but it is perceived as bitter when the mouth is filled with salt. If the past remains in a person, it makes his or her heart first salty, then gradually bitter. Then the disintegration of a person begins. In the end, "personhood" dissolves like salt in water.

Celebrating the New Year's Day on the day of St. Basil reminds us that we are constantly at the mouth of the gushing fountain of Life, as he says in his homilies. Let us be washed with new life and begin a new life which begins now and flows ever and unto ages of ages. It is this sense of time that we should recover in the celebration of the New Year's Day.

Christ is born! May God Grant you many years! A happy new year in Christ!