Presbyter Basil could not help notice the bishop's invigorated step and renewed energy in song and chant. At first he suspected that this might have something to do with the Feast of the Nativity of the Honorable and Glorious Prophet and Forerunner John the Baptist. Bishop Davidus was known to have a special bond with the Baptist. Then, Basil had to tell himself, the change was too radical for that. Something truly odd had occurred. Could it be a miracle?

Basil sang with the others: The woman who had been barren becomes fertile and gives birth today to the Forerunner of Christ. He is the greatest and last of the prophets, for standing in the waters of the Jordan River, he placed his hands on Christ Whom all the prophets had announced, and in so doing he became a prophet himself, a preacher and a forerunner of the Word of God. He watched the face of Episkopos Davidus for some clue as to what could be happening in, perhaps, a world Basil could not see.

A stranger had come to see the bishop, and it was certainly not appropriate for a presbyter to insinuate himself into such. Basil had to be content to wonder just what the Lord had planned for St. Isidore's!