Nabil L. Hanna, presbyter
Of Our Fathers among the Saints
Basil the Great, Archbishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia
And John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople
Saint Basil “the Great” (d. 379) was bishop in Cappadocia, in Asia Minor . Saint John Chrysostom (d. 407) was a presbyter in Antioch , and, on account of the eloquence of his homilies, was made bishop of Constantinople , the new capital of the Empire. Both lived in a very exciting, formative period in the development of the Liturgy and for the Christian Church in general. Together with Saint Gregory “the Theologian,” they are known as the Three Great Hierarchs and share a common feast on January 30.
In the early Church, many different liturgies were used, and each place had its own liturgical tradition. When St. Basil wrote his Liturgy, however, following the structure which the Church had known and used since New Testament times, its excellence was immediately recognized, and its adoption and use spread like a wildfire. It soon became and remains today the standard Liturgy of the Orthodox Church.
St. John Chrysostom served St. Basil's Liturgy in Constantinople, although he also brought with him a wealth of tradition from Antioch and integrated it therein. The Church of Constantinople took to its limit the ideal of having the entire community gathered together. The Emperor Justinian built the huge Cathedral of Hagia Sophia to accommodate 60,000 worshippers at once! The only problem was that people could not hear the service, despite amazing architectural feats, including a large central dome and many other acoustic elements. It was difficult for the priest to shout the whole service at the top of his lungs, especially if he became aged. The following developments occurred as a result: 1) deacons were delegated to say litanies and to proclaim the Gospel from a raised platform (called the ambon ) situated directly under the main dome; 2) assuming the faithful were already familiar with the prayers and would be able to follow mentally, the celebrant would save his full voice for only the concluding line (exclamation) of each prayer; 3) the prayers of St. Basil's Liturgy were shortened.
It is this abridged version that came to be known as the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom—named for one of the Capital's most famous bishops—although the two are really one Liturgy. They are so much alike that differences are almost completely limited to the priest's parts of the Anaphora, and it is possible to put the two side-by-side, as we have done here. By current custom, we use the St. John Chrysostom form of the Byzantine rite Liturgy routinely, reserving the full, St. Basil form, for ten solemn occasions annually.