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As received from the Erickson Crowley Peterson Funeral Home:
Hieromonk Basil, Hegumen (Fr. Basil) entered eternity at 4:13 a.m. on the Feast of St. Andrew, the First-Called Apostle of our Lord (November 30) after a brief illness.
Fr. Basil was born Peter Joseph Paris on April 19, 1947 to Joseph and Eileen (Yelle) Paris and spent his early years in Gwinn, Michigan. He attended Gwinn Public schools where he graduated with distinction in 1965. He left the UP at 18 to attend the University of Michigan and then worked in various professions in urban areas. He settled in Detroit where he became involved in banking and then the food industry through restaurant management. This path would lead him to his calling.
He was drawn to the religious life at an early age. As a small child he pretended to say mass with his sister and cousins assisting. As he grew older, he developed a love of medieval church manuscripts and would create his own illuminated manuscripts. In his young adult years, when not working with his father in the woods, he spent his time hiking and was in awe of the majesty of God’s creation. Even though he enjoyed urban life he was always called back to the woods and had a love for the beauty of Lake Superior. In 1983 he answered God’s call when he and Fr. Nicholas Glenn purchased land on the shores of Lake Superior in Keweenaw County and co-founded the Society of St. John, which remains the monastery’s corporate identity. In 1995 the monks joined the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and became known as Holy Transfiguration Skete. In 2020, the monastery was granted full independence and is now known as Holy Protection Monastery.
Prior to founding the monastery in 1983, Fr. Basil worked with Fr. Nicholas in the arts in Detroit. They began praying together and began to discern a calling to found a monastery dedicated to the upbuilding of God’s kingdom through the arts.
Upon the death of Fr. Nicholas in 2017, Fr. Basil was elected Hegumen (superior) and guided the monastery until his passing. He was known to many as the kindly, gray-bearded monk with a twinkle in his eyes that worked the sales counter at the Jampot during the summer & fall tourism season.
Fr. Basil was preceded in death by his parents and is survived by his sister Antoinette Greider of Lexington, Kentucky and brother, James Paris, Candler, North Carolina, two nephews Justin (Sarah) Paris, New York City and Terell Paris, Minneapolis, Minnesota, a great nephew, Oliver, New York City an uncle, Leo Yelle, Green Bay Wisconsin, an aunt, Kathryn Paris, Gwinn and multiple cousins around the country.
In his monastic family, he was preceded in death by Fr. Nicholas Glenn, the co-founder of Holy Protection Monastery. He is survived by his spiritual sons: Hierodeacon Ambrose, Schemamonk Sergius, and Schemamonk John.
The Office of Christian Burial will be sung at 10:00 A.M. on Tuesday, December 14th. The public is invited to attend. Please visit https://societystjohn.com for possible changes to the funeral date & time.
Contributions to the Society of St. John, 6559 State Highway M26, Eagle Harbor, MI 49950, are requested in lieu of flowers.
Online condolences may be left at www.ericksoncrowleypeterson.com
