Basil of Caesarea
| Saint Basil the Great | |
| Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia |
| Born | 329, Caesarea, Cappadocia |
| Died | 379, Caesarea, Cappadocia |
| Venerated in | Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism |
| Major shrine | Church in Moscow Kremlin |
| Feast | January 1 (East), January 2 (West) |
| Attributes | Episcopal insignia |
| Patronage | Cappadocia, Hospital administrators, Reformers, Monks |
| PrayerYour voice resounded throughout the world that received your word by which, in godly manner, you taught dogma, clarified the nature of beings, and set in order the character of people. Venerable father, Royal Priesthood, intercede to Christ God to grant us great mercy. [1] |
For the 8th century saint, see Basil the Confessor. For the Russian saint, see Basil Fool for Christ. For the Serbian saint, see Saint Basil of Ostrog.Basil of Caesarea (ca.
330 -
January 1,
379), also called
Basil the Great (Greek: ÎœÎγας Î'ασίλειος), was
Bishop of
Caesarea, a leading churchman in the
4th century. The
Eastern Orthodox Church considers him a
saint and one of the Three Holy Hierarchs, together with
Gregory Nazianzus and
John Chrysostom. Basil, Gregory Nazianzus, and Basil's brother
Gregory of Nyssa are called the
Cappadocian Fathers. The
Roman Catholic Church considers him a saint and a
Doctor of the Church.
The Basilian Fathers, also known as
The Congregation of St. Basil, is an international order of Roman Catholic priests and students studying for the priesthood.
In
Greek tradition, his name was given to
Father Christmas and is supposed to visit children and give presents every
January 1 (when Basil's memory is celebrated), unlike other traditions where this person is
Saint Nicholas and comes every
Christmas.
Basil was born about
330 at
Caesarea in
Cappadocia. He came from a wealthy and pious family which gave a number of saints, including his father, also named Basil, his mother
Emelia, grandmother
Macrina the Elder, sister
Macrina the Younger and brothers
Gregory of Nyssa and Peter, who became Bishop of Sebaste. Some church historian presumed
Theosebia was his youngest sister, who is also a saint among the Eastern Orthodox.
While still a child, the family moved to
Pontus; but he soon returned to Cappadocia to live with his mother's relations, and seems to have been brought up by his grandmother Macrina. Eager to learn, he went to Constantinople and spent four or five years there and at
Athens, where he had Gregory Nazianzus for a fellow student and became friends with the future emperor
Julian. Both men were deeply influenced by
Origen, both are said to have later written an Anthology of Origen called
Philokalia.
It was at
Athens that he seriously began to think of religion, and resolved to seek out the most famous
hermit saints in Syria and Arabia, in order to learn from them how to attain enthusiastic piety and how to keep his body under submission by asceticism, what he used to call "philosophical life".
After this we find him at the head of a convent near
Arnesi in Pontus, in which his mother Emelia, now a widow, his sister Macrina and several other ladies, gave themselves to a pious life of prayer and charitable works.
Eustathius of Sebaste had already labored in Pontus in behalf of the anchoretic life, and Basil revered him on that account, although they differed over dogmatic points, which gradually separated these two men. Siding from the beginning and at the Council of Constantinople in 360 with the
Homoousians, Basil went especially with those who overcame the aversion to the homoousios in common opposition to
Arianism, thus drawing nearer to
Athanasius of Alexandria. Like Athanasius, he was also opposed to the
Macedonian heresy.
He also became a stranger to his bishop,
Dianius of Caesarea, who had subscribed only to the Nicene form of agreement, and became reconciled to him only when the latter was about to die. He was ordained presbyter of the Church at Caesarea in
365, and his ordination was probably the result of the entreaties of his ecclesiastical superiors, who wished to use his talents against the Arians, who were numerous in that part of the country and were favoured by the Arian emperor,
Valens, who then reigned in
Constantinople.
In
370 Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, died, and Basil was chosen to succeed him. It was then that his great powers were called into action. Caesarea was an important diocese, and its bishop was, ex officio, exarch of the great diocese of
Pontus. Hot-blooded and somewhat imperious, Basil was also generous and sympathetic. His zeal for orthodoxy did not blind him to what was good in an opponent; and for the sake of peace and charity he was content to waive the use of orthodox terminology when it could be surrendered without a sacrifice of truth. With all his might he resisted the Emperor
Valens, who strove to introduce Arianism into his diocese, and impressed the emperor so strongly that, although inclined to banish the intractable bishop, he left him unmolested.
To save the Church from Arianism, Basil entered into connections with the West, and with the help of Athanasius, he tried to overcome its distrustful attitude toward the Homoiousians. The difficulties had been enhanced by bringing in the question as to the essence of the Holy Spirit. Although Basil advocated objectively the consubstantiality of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son, he belonged to those, who, faithful to Eastern tradition, would not allow the predicate homoousios to the former; for this he was reproached as early as
371 by the Orthodox zealots among the monks, and Athanasius defended him. His relations also with Eustathius were maintained in spite of dogmatic differences and caused suspicion. On the other hand, Basil was grievously offended by the extreme adherents of
Homoousianism, who seemed to him to be reviving the
Sabellian heresy.
He did not live to see the end of the unhappy factional disturbances and the complete success of his continued exertions in behalf of Rome and the East. He suffered from liver illness and his excessive
asceticism seems to have hastened him to an early death. A lasting monument of his episcopal care for the poor was the great institute before the gates of Caesarea, which was used as poorhouse, hospital, and hospice.
Writings
The principal theological writings of Basil are his
De Spiritu Sancto, a lucid and edifying appeal to Scripture and early Christian tradition (to prove the divinity of the Holy Spirit), and his
Refutation of the Apology of the Impious Eunomius, written in 363 or 364, three books against
Eunomius of Cyzicus, the chief exponent of Anomoian Arianism. The first three books of the
Refutation are his work; the fourth and fifth books that are usually included to do not belong to Basil, or to
Apollinaris of Laodicea, but probably to
Didymus of Alexandria.
He was a famous preacher, and many of his homilies, including a series of Lenten lectures on the
Hexaëmeron, and an exposition of the psalter, have been preserved. Some like that against usury and that on the famine in
368, are valuable for the history of morals; others illustrate the honor paid to martyrs and relics; the address to young men on the study of classical literature shows that Basil was lastingly influenced by his own education, which taught him to appreciate the propaedeutic importance of the classics.
His
ascetic tendencies are exhibited in the
Moralia and
Regulae, ethical manuals for use in the world and the cloister respectively. Of the monastic rules traced to Basil, the shorter is the one most probably his work.
It is in the ethical manuals and moral sermons that the practical aspects of his theoretical theology are illustrated. So, for example, it is in his
Sermon to the Lazicans that we find St. Basil explaining how it is our common nature that obliges us to treat our neighbor's natural needs (e.g., hunger, thirst) as our own, even though he is a separate individual. Later theologians explicitly explain this as an example of how the saints become an image of the one common nature of the persons of the Trinity.
His three hundred letters reveal a rich and observant nature, which, despite the troubles of ill-health and ecclesiastical unrest, remained optimistic, tender and even playful. His principal efforts as a reformer were directed towards the improvement of the liturgy, and the reformation of the monastic orders of the East.
Most of the
liturgies bearing the name of Basil, in their present form, are not his work, but they nevertheless preserve the a recollection of Basil's activity in this field in formularizing liturgical prayers and promoting church-song. One liturgy that can be attributed to him is
The Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great, a liturgy that is somewhat longer than the more commonly used
Divine Liturgy of John Chrysostom; it is still used on certain feast days in the
Ukrainian Catholic Church and the
Eastern Orthodox Church, such as every Sunday of Great Lent.
All his works, and a few spuriously attributed to him, are available in the
Patrologia Graeca, which includes Latin translations of varying quality. No critical edition is yet available.
*
Basilian monk*
Basilopita*
Christian Classics Ethereal Library, Early Church Fathers, Series II, Vol. VIII contains the treatise on the Holy Spirit, the Hexaemeron, some of the homilies and the letters.
*
The Orthodox Wikipedia has a slightly longer article on St. Basil.
*
The Heritage of the Holy Fathers has a more complete collection of his homilies (and some other works, but only a few of his letters) is available in Russian.
*
Excerpts from Basil the Great.
