Holy New Martyr Basil pray to God for us!
From the blog Mystagogy:
On January 25, 2012 Greek Orthodox Hieromonk Basilios Nassar was shot by an armed terrorist group in Hama, Syria on the second day of heavy fighting there. Fr. Basilios was at the Metropolis when he was informed by a phone call that a parishioner of his was shot and needed assistance. The Patriarchate of Antioch has reported that the 30-year-old priest was shot while giving medical aid to the wounded man who was previously shot. Fr. Basilios was shot in the chest and in the right armpit. Immediately another priest, Fr. Panteleimon Isa, who was with him dragged his bloody body to a nearby building to save him, but the martyr for Christ Father Basilios was dead within 30 minutes from hemorrhaging. His funeral took place today, January 26th, in the Church of Saint George in Hama. The blessed Father Basilios, known in the world as Mazin, was born in 1982 in the village of Kfarmpo in Hama and was a graduate of the Theological School of Balamand. He was also a teacher of Byzantine Music in the school Saint Kosmas the Melodist which he founded in the Metropolis.
Lord, may his memory be eternal.
And by your grace, may there soon be no more need of martyrs in this beautiful world you have given us.
We will be saved through the blood our our martyrs. May he pray for all of us that we may also earn paradise as monks and nuns through our daily martyrdom. The nuns of the Holy Monastery of St. John the Baptist, Anatoli -Agia, Greece.
Abbess Theodekti – Yes, may the blood of his martyrdom lead us all to salvation. I am wondering if you are the Sister Theodekti I met over 20 years ago at an international conference in Crete. Together with a few other American women, you took us to Athens after the conference and brought us to your monastery. We met again the following year at a conference at St. Vladimir’s Seminary in New York. At the time I was from southern California where my priest-husband was serving a parish. Now we are in Indianapolis. I have thought of you often over the years and would love to reconnect with you. May God bless you. Please pray for me.
Lord, I also pray that his memory be eternal.
Another seed of the Church has been planted.