By happy coincidence (providence!) on this day when we remember Sts Basil and Gregory the reading chosen is from the first epistle of St. John. The saints used this epistle to refute the erroneous idea that Jesus was a holy man and a good teacher but could not be called the son of God. How could a human being be the Son of God, went the argument. Our saints quote the epistle: Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. Holding onto the truth of Jesus was both God and a human being was necessary to ensure that we as human beings have access to God through him.
