Saint Basil the Great

“ In 355 Basil had been at school with Julian, afterwards Emperor, and an apostate from the faith, and with Gregory, who was the son of the Bishop of Nazianzus. Basil had not formed a high opinion of the former, but with Gregory “it was one soul in two bodies.” On returning to Cæsarea after his father’s death, Basil turned towards a life in the world, and a prospect of advancement in official life opened to him. It was then that Macrina had exerted all her influence over him, and gave him that final direction which made of him so glorious a saint and teacher of the Church. ”

“ The last sparks of resistance were extinguished in 1018, and the great Slavonic realm lay in the dust. The power of Byzantium controlled once more the Illyrian peninsula. Basil died in December 1025 in the midst of preparations to send a naval expedition to recover Sicily from the Saracens.
Basil's reign marks the highest point of the power of the Eastern empire since Justinian I. Part of the credit is due to his predecessors Nicephorus and Tzimisces, but the greater part belongs to him. ”

“ So they were both ordained to be clergymen, and their friendship continued as warm as ever. Gregory did many kind offices to Basil, and at length, when the archbishopric of Cæsarea, the chief city of Cappadocia, fell vacant, Gregory had a great share in getting his friend chosen to it. Basil was now in a very high office, with many bishops under him; and he had become noted as one of the chief defenders of the Catholic faith. And when the emperor Valens set up Arianism in all other parts of his dominions, Basil remained at his post, and kept the Church of Cæsarea free from the heresy. ”

“ In the afternoon, as he was pacing alone in a little portico near the abbot's tower, the prior approached him. This reverend man had hitherto paid little or no attention to Basil. He walked ever with eyes cast down as if in deep musing, yet it was well known that he observed keenly, and that his duties to the community were discharged with admirable zeal and competence. In the world he would have been a great administrator. In the monastery he seemed to find ample scope for his powers, and never varied from the character of a man who set piety and learning above all else. ”

“ BASIL, [1] known as Basil the Great (c. 330–379) , bishop of Caesarea, a leading churchman in the 4th century, came of a famous family, which gave a number of distinguished supporters to the Church. His eldest sister, Macrina, was celebrated for her saintly life; his second brother was the famous Gregory of Nyssa; his youngest was Peter, bishop of Sebaste; and his eldest brother was the famous Christian jurist Naucratius. ”

“ Not long after, Eustathius, bishop of Sebaste, brought monachism into Armenia, Paphlagonia, and Pontus. But St. Basil is generally considered as the great father and patriarch of the Eastern monks. It was he who reduced the monastic life to a fixed state of uniformity, who united the Anchorets and Cœnobites, and obliged them to engage themselves by solemn vows. It was St. Basil who prescribed rules for the government and direction of the monasteries, to which rules most of the disciples of Anthony, Pachomius, and Macarius, and the other ancient fathers of the deserts, submitted. ”

“ Then Basil watched in prayers one night with the faithful people, and in the early morning, all began to cry, Kyrie, eleison, with loud voice to the dear Saviour ; Then suddenly came a great wind, and threw open the door, so that the bolts burst, and it struck against the wall.
Then went they in, praising the Almighty, and the bishop said mass, and blessed the faithful, and many of the heretics received the faith.
Then the emperor could not gainsay the decision, but let the servants of God inhabit God's temple, and enjoy the property which was made their own. ”

“ And the astrologer said unto him, “Thou wilt die in the evening, and thy soul shall go forth from thy body [at the time] .” And Saint Basil said unto him, “If I remain [alive] , and do not die until the morning, wilt thou became a Christian?” And the astrologer said unto him, “Yea.” And Saint Basil entreated God, and God added three days to his days, and that wise and learned Jewish astrologer, who was the greatest of his class, believed, and Saint Basil baptized him and all the men of his house with Christian baptism, and then he died in peace. ”

“ Some of these precious relies were kept at Cæsarea, and St. Basil says of them: "Like bulwarks, they are our protection against the inroads of enemies." [4] He adds, that every one implored their succor, and that they raised up those that had fallen, strengthened the weak, and invigorated the fervor of the saints. SS. Basil and Emmelia, the holy parents of St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Peter of Sebaste, and St. Macrina, procured a great share of these relics. ”

“ Then arose Basil, a great scholar, and accustomed to civilized life in the schools of Athens and Constantinople, who gave rules and laws to the monks, gathered them into communities and discouraged social isolation, knowing that the demons had more power over men when they were alone and idle. ”

“ The fame of Basil is immortal in the monastic history of the East. With a mind that had tasted the learning and eloquence of Athens; with an ambition scarcely to be satisfied with the archbishopric of Cæsarea, Basil retired to a savage solitude in Pontus; and deigned, for a while, to give laws to the spiritual colonies which he profusely scattered along the coast of the Black Sea. In the West, Martin of Tours, a soldier, a hermit, a bishop, and a saint, established the monasteries of Gaul ”

“ Basilius, bp. of Caesarea in Cappadocia, commonly called Basil the Great, the strenuous champion of orthodoxy in the East, the restorer of union to the divided Oriental church, and the promoter of unity between the East and the West, was born at Caesarea (originally called Mazaca) , the capital of Cappadocia, towards the end of 329. His parents were members of noble and wealthy families, and Christians by descent. His grandparents on both sides had suffered during the Maximinian persecution, his maternal grandfather losing both property and life. ”

“ Happy is he that believes in him and follows him and gives credit to his mission." This Basil, after the visit to Bahira, had gone to Constantinople and other parts of the Greek Emperor's territories, and upon information of the great success of the followers of this prophet was abundantly convinced of the truth of his mission. This inclined him, having so fair an opportunity offered, to release Youkinna and his men ”

“ Basil, bishop of Seleucia, 14. Basil (the Great) , bishop of Cæsarea, 14; contends against the misconceptions of baptism, 16; sides with Theodosius, 142; reprobates trading near the “martyries,” 182; qualified admiration of Origen’s teachings, 287. Basiliscus, bishop of Comana, suffered martyrdom, 386; story of his appearing to Chrysostom, 387. Baths of Constantine, interrupted services carried on at, 334; people refuse to leave, 336; scenes of violence at, 336. Bautho, father of Eudoxia, 205. Benedict, St., 60; establishment of his monastery, 144. ”

“ S. GORDIUS M. (about 320.)
[Commemorated by the Roman Martyrology and the Greek Menæa on the same day. The account of his passion is given by S. Basil the Great in a panegyric at Cæsarea, on the anniversary of his martyrdom, which he says was then recent. This account, given on the scene of his suffering, within the memory of man, so that some of those who heard the discourse of S. Basil, had seen the conflict of the martyr, is unquestionably trustworthy.] ”

“ But Basil prayed, "Christ is my light, and Jesus is my hope, a calm port in tempest. I give Thee thanks, Lord God of my fathers, because thou hast saved my soul from the abyss; keep Thy Name inviolate in me, and make me an heir of eternal quiet, for the promise made unto my fathers by the great High Priest, Jesus Christ, our Lord; through whom I pray Thee receive my spirit into peace, persevering in my confession; for Thou art merciful and long-suffering and full of compassion; who livest and abidest through ages of ages. ”

“ Thus though faith regained its rights, it remained an energy of the understanding, confined to those who had the requisite inborn capacity; while the dealings of God with man were shut up within the lines of mechanical justice. The majestic and, so to speak, pathetic view bounded by the large Basilidian horizon was well fitted to inspire dreams of a high and comprehensive theology, but the very fidelity with which Basilides strove to cling to reality must have soon brought to light the incompetence of his teaching to solve any of the great problems. ”

“ Basil.| But his thus openly declaring in favour of Paulinus, his treating in such a base and unworthy manner one of the most eminent Prelates in the East, served only to engage the Followers of Meletius more warmly in his Cause; and the great Basil, among the rest, who could not help censuring the Conduct of Damasus as rash, partial, and injudicious: he even repented his having ever applied to him; for, in one of his Letters to Eusebius of Samosata, he expresses himself thus: The Saying of Diomedes occurs to my Mind; Intreaties are not to be used with Achilles, he is too haughty [1054] ”

“ From that period, and he was then not more than twenty-eight, Basil turned his thoughts solely to the edification of the Christian Church; but first he spent some years in retreat among the hermits of the desert, as was the fashion of that day, living, as they did, in abstinence, poverty, and abstracted study; acknowledging neither country, family, home, nor friends, nor fortune, nor worldly interests of any kind, but with his thoughts fixed solely on eternal life in another world. In these austerities he, as was also usual, consumed and ruined his bodily health ”

“ His was an expectant martyrdom, an exile from his true home, a daily {321} dying on earth, tending but to one desired end. Nature could be more easily reconciled in the one case than in the other to thoughts of parting. Basil was my all, my second self, my sole treasure,—the prop on which rested youth's hopes, earth's joys, life's sole comfort ”

“ As she stepped towards the door I heard the soft sound her cambric garments made on the floor, and saw her eyes fixed before her with an expression of expectancy and pleasure–eyes like the black jade they prize in China. But Basil held her back with his swarthy hand on the edge of her mantle.
On the smooth walls of opal-tinted tiles moonlight flushed into lamplight that fell tinted with trembling colour; I saw the dark trees through the window and the great space of clear sky. ”

“ Solitude he thought dangerous to humility and charity. "Whose feet wilt thou wash?" he asks; "whom wilt thou serve? bow canst thou be last of all—if thou art alone?" The second of these evils was idleness. Basil's rule insists on industry. At the same time he puts restraint on the wild extravagances of asceticism. A man of ascetic habits himself—with his one daily meal of beans—he writes, "If fasting hinders you from labour, it is better to eat like the workman of Christ that you are." The monk can possess no private property, meet no woman, drink no wine, read only canonical books. ”

“ Basil, who was subsequently bishop of the metropolis of Cappadocia, was a great admirer of Ephraem, and was astonished at his condition. The opinion of Basil, who was the most learned and eloquent man of his age, is a stronger testimony I {11} think, to the merit of Ephraem, than anything that could be indicted in his praise." [5]
S. Gregory Nyssen gives the following testimony to the eloquence of S. Ephraem: "Who that is proud would not become the humblest of men, reading his discourse on Humility? Who would not be inflamed with a divine fire, reading his treatise on Charity? ”

“ Mine own sorrows, leastways all sharp ones, ended with my passage into France. If Basil showed himself a worthy lover, he hath proved a yet better husband. His nature doth so delight in doing good that it wins him the love of all our neighbors. His life is a constant exercise of charity. He is most indulgent to his wife and kind to his children, of which it hath pleased God to give him three—one boy and two girls, of as comely visages and commendable dispositions as can reasonably be desired. ”

“ Basil the Great, St. Peter of Sebaste, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and the rest, learned from her their early contempt of the world, dread of its dangers, and application to prayer and the word of God. When they were sent abroad for their improvement, Macrina induced her mother to concur with her in founding two monasteries, one for men, the other for women, at a little distance from each other, on their own estate, near Ibora in Pontus. That of men was first governed by St. Basil, afterward by St. Peter. ”

“ The whole rich life of the man breathed of the faith that overcometh the world, of self-denying love and noble purpose. He gave the whole powers of his mind to the holding together of the Catholic church in the East during the violent persecution of the Arian Valens. The most beautiful testimony to his noble character was the magnificent Basil institute, a hospital in Cæsarea, to which he, while himself living in the humblest manner, devoted all his rich revenues. His writings, too, entitle Basil to a place among the most distinguished church fathers. ”

“ Very beautiful in Basil's eyes showed the piety and calm which here surrounded him, and his reverence for the founder of this house of peace fell little short of that with which he regarded the Saints in heaven. Never before—unless it were at certain moments when conversing with the Lady Silvia—had he felt the loveliness of a life in which religion was supreme; and never, assuredly, had there stirred within him a spirit so devout. He longed to attain unto righteousness, that entire purity of will, which, it now seemed to him, could be enjoyed only in monastic seclusion. ”