Happy New Year and Happy St. Basil's Day

Two years ago on Jan. 1st, I woke up and went to church for the St. Basil's Liturgy/ Feast Day. It's always a killer feast day, as far as timing goes. Anyone up for going to church in the morning right after New Years Eve? No, I was still adjusting to this custom of the new-to-me Orthodox Tradition. All I remember is I was almost 6 months pregnant, and the baby was kicking all throughout Liturgy. Oy! :)

I also remember Fr. giving a wonderful sermon about St. Basil the Great. Or rather, he really just shared about St. Basil, and all of the wonderful things he accomplished in his lifetime for the Church.

Then at the end of the service, Father wished all of the Vasilioses and Vasilikis and Vasilis a good feast day.... and then he paused and said, out of the blue, "And to any future babies who might be named after St. Basil." I sort of snickered... I was one of five or six pregnant women at our parish at the time. I thought it was strange that Father would say something random like that. Afterall, I certainly wasn't going to name my daughter Vasiliki (the only female derivation of "Basil" that I knew of at the time)!

We all gathered in the fellowship hall afterwards and Father started to cut into the Vasilopita (St. Basil's Bread). There were many people in line to get a slice of the delicious bread; everyone hoping to receive the coveted "coin" inside, with it's promise of a year full of blessings.

I was pregnant, crabby and eager to eat some food. I sighed at the long line of bread-seekers. I jokingly told my sister that, if I got the coin, I would name the baby after St. Basil. I still had Father's odd "namesday" greeting in my mind, and perhaps was tempting fate by saying such a thing.

A few minutes passed, and my sweet Job stood in line to get the two of us some bread. As Father cut a second slice for Job to give to me, his eye caught hold of the shiny, foil-wrapped dime that crumbled from my slice. Father happily exclaimed, "Katie got the coin!!!"

And so, there you have it. That's how Vasilia got her name. The very woman who baked the Vasilopita smiled as she imparted some wisdom, "Do not make a pledge to a saint unless you're going to keep it." Well...although I said it jokingly, I had indirectly made such a pledge. And after hearing about St. Basil's life, his faith and his amazing life accomplishments, I figured why not name her after someone so GREAT?

I brainstormed with my sisters for a bit, and quickly learned some different variations of "Basil." Vasilissa? Pretty, but not quite right for us... Vasilia? YES! That's it!!!

And so there you have it. Maybe I've told the story before, but it warms my soul to share it again this year.

This year our parish did not celebrate Liturgy for St. Basil (Father is out of town). But I baked some vasilipita at home... it was too crumbly, BUT it was delicious. We sang "God grant you many years" to Vasi, and had our family over for a last-minute-planned celebration.

I feel blessed to have St. Basil as "part of the family," being my sweet daughter's patron saint. Oh Holy Saint Basil, please intercede on our behalf. Amen.

Happy New Year to you all!