Basil of Parium
Our Father among the Saints Basil the Confessor, Bishop of Parium
Venerable · Bishop · Confessor · d. 8th century
Commemorated 12 April — Repose of the confessor-bishop
Basil, Bishop of Parium on the Hellespont, was a confessor of the eighth century who suffered greatly for the holy icons in the first iconoclast persecution. Chosen bishop by his people for his virtue, he refused to sign the imperial decree against the veneration of images; for this he was harried, driven from his see and persecuted by the iconoclasts, yet he never yielded, and after a life of hardship endured for the true faith he reposed in peace, confessing Orthodoxy to the end.
Basil lived in the age of the iconoclast controversy, when the emperors of Byzantium set themselves to abolish the veneration of the holy icons. He was a man of proven virtue and orthodoxy, and the faithful of Parium — a city on the southern shore of the Hellespont, in the province of the Hellespont near the Propontis — chose him for their bishop, that he might shepherd them in the true faith.
When the iconoclast emperors demanded that the bishops subscribe to the decree against the icons, Basil refused. He would neither sign the impious edict nor communicate with the heretics, but openly confessed the honour due to the images of Christ, His Mother and the saints. For this steadfastness he was persecuted: harassed by the officials of the iconoclast party, deprived of the peace of his see, and driven to endure privation, wandering and affliction. Yet through all of it he stood firm — a confessor who bore the reproach of Christ without shrinking, and would not be moved from the Orthodox faith by either threat or enticement.
Having spent his life in these labours for the truth, and having preserved his flock and his own soul unstained by the heresy, Basil reposed in peace. The Church numbers him among the holy confessors of the iconoclast age, and keeps his memory on April 12.
Feast and commemoration
April 12 (church date; Old Calendar civil April 25), within Great Lent. He is honoured as a confessor-bishop of the eighth century; his service is that of the common of a holy bishop and confessor.
Hymns
Troparion — Tone 4 (common of a bishop-confessor)
O God of our fathers, ever dealing with us according to Thy gentleness: take not Thy mercy from us, but by the prayers of Thy holy confessor Basil the bishop, direct our lives in peace.
Original translation from the Greek
Iconography
Basil is painted as a bishop in the phelonion and omophorion, holding the Gospel and blessing, of middle or advanced age; as a confessor for the icons he may be shown holding or defending a small icon. No pre-1900 icon of him alone has been identified for this repository.