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Many thanks to benefactors, volunteers, parents, clergy, and especially teachers!

Who: St Basil Academy Families
Where: Home of Father Daniel & Cynthia Reese
When: Sunday, August 29, 6:00 pm
What to Bring: Something to BBQ, side dish or salad to share, serves 12. Tableware for your family. Drinks & Dessert are furnished.

Father Deacon Matthew Harrington has accepted the position and has already begun meeting parents and preparing for the new school year.

The Board expresses its gratitude and appreciation to Headmaster Emeritus Matthew Barnett, who remains involved with the academy in an advisory capacity.

Students will perform “The Tempest” and we will have a small ceremony for our second graduate of St Basil:  Elena Janis.

We are inviting parish members to a pre-sale this Saturday after Vespers, at 6:30-7:30, so please come and browse and buy.  There will be some bigger items, furniture, which will not arrive until Friday morning, so please come to the sale on Friday or Saturday as well!  Baked goods are still welcome for the either day of the sale.  If you have any more items to donate, please bring them Tuesday after Vespers and there will be a few people their pricing.  Bigger items can be brought early Friday morning, ideally, before 8 am, or Thursday eve.

Saint Basil Academy is a school that is full of life. The small intimate setting is a place where students come alive, learn, grow and carry these treasures on with them as life inexorably carries them along. Rapidly we are approaching the end of our fourth year in operation. Students who started with us as Kindergartners striving to unlock the hidden secrets of books return as third graders, eagerly devouring new Latin words, exploring the wonders of space, and writing cohesive and fluid papers. By the time these students graduate from 8th grade, they will have become accomplished scholars who have tackled the complexities of ancient and modern history, wrestled with freshmen level algebra and seen the links between the ancient Latin language and modern Spanish.

Students at this school have something special. They are known and loved by each other, and by the staff and the parents who generously contribute their time. Saint Basil Academy is a safe place where students grow closer as they share the common experiences in the classroom and on the playing field. Having the same students several years in succession enables the staff to know their students’ needs in a way that would be impossible in most other settings.

In numerous ways, I am moved to thankfulness for the opportunity to serve in this blessed organization. This year is my first in instructing (or studying for that matter) Latin. What a treat it has been! The older students and I are currently working our way through early 20th century history. After our history books have been put aside, the students engross themselves in George Orwell’s classic allegorical tale, Animal Farm. It is delightful to see their eyes lighten up as these simple barnyard animals illustrate the nature of communism as no textbook could.

As the day grows long, I venture out into our new play field. Many parents and friends of the academy worked long hours this summer installing a lawn and erecting a fence for the children. The students and I have spent many recesses enjoying those labors as we traipse up and down the field chasing and being chased, looking for the long pass, or the unguarded flag. Thus ends a day full of life at Saint Basil Academy.

“O heavenly King, O Comforter…” My daughter, Emma, and I join voices for the beginning of evening prayers.

I have been praying the evening prayers with Emma since she was an infant—6 years of prayers. For the most part she has merely listened, perhaps saying “amen” at the end as her only vocal contribution.

“Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal have mercy on us,” Emma prayed, bowing and crossing. At age five she began to recognize and say part of the Lord’s prayer, losing it somewhere between “trespasses” and “trespassers.”

“O most holy Trinity have mercy on us…,” she continued.

But one day recently, Emma surprised me by saying all of the evening prayers nearly perfectly on her own.

I looked down at her in surprise, but she continued to look at the icons, praying. “Well,” I thought to myself, “it appears she’s been learning something at Saint Basil Academy!” Her prayer came naturally, unforced; words too complex for her natural vocabulary rolled off her tongue with relative ease. As a father, it was a wonderful surprise; one that has served as signpost of the value of an Orthodox Christian education for me.

Every day at the beginning and end of the school day, Headmaster Mr. Barnett leads the children through set prayers. The children each know their parts; some lead the singing of the troparion and kontakion hymns to St. Basil. The prayers are not the focus of the day, taking only a few minutes. At the end of the prayers, a single student reads the prayers for the blessing of their learning.

It is clear to me from watching little Emma that their learning has been blessed.

There is a growing movement afoot to create elementary and secondary “Orthodox schools” in the U.S. Kevin Allen discusses this development with veteran educator Bryan Smith, the Director of the Orthodox Schools Association and the Director-Headmaster of Saint Peter’s Classic School in Fort Worth, Texas.

Click to listen (right-click to download)

“Six pages a day… no way!” “That was really interesting. I would read that book again!” “Ten pages a day? Really? That’s impossible!” “It is getting to the interesting parts now. Can we read ahead?” These were just a few of the comments uttered by the 5th through 8th grade Literature class.

The high expectations of the instructors of Saint Basil Academy are often greeted with temporary disbelief. But as the students progress, teachers are rewarded each week watching the class begin to grasp the plot, examine the characters, talk about the author’s intentions, and question the use of words with which they are not familiar. The class is currently enthralled by The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, and is about halfway through the unabridged Trilogy.

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy, and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, works covered during the first trimester, enlightened the students to the different facets of 19th century English culture. The literature awakens the imagination while instilling a perspective laden with Christian values. The first trimester readings also compliment and enhance their study of 19th century history. Later this school year, the class will take on both The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

• Great Vespers: 6:30pm, Wednesday, January 13
• Divine Liturgy: 6:30am, Thursday, January 14

Immediately after the Liturgy, we will have a blessing and share St. Basil’s bread.

Vasilópita (St. Basil’s bread) is a traditional New Year’s Day bread or cake in Greece and many other areas in eastern Europe and the Balkans which contains a hidden coin. This tradition is also known to the Ukrainians and Romanians; Bulgarians (Svity Vasileva bogatcha), Serbs (chesnitza, eaten on Christmas); Albanians (pita, eaten by both Christians and Muslims), etc. Similar traditions are known in the West, such as the French gâteau des rois, the Louisiana king cake, and the Mexican rosca de reyes.

On New Year’s Day families cut and share the Vassilopita to bless the house and family. A coin is wrapped and hidden in the bread by slipping it into the dough before baking. A piece of cake is sliced for each member of the family and any visitors present at the time. There is good-natured competition to see who will get the slice containing the coin, which is said to being good luck