BASIL THE GREAT

BASIL THE GREAT, bishop, theologian, monk, St. (ca. 330–379). Born of an aristocratic family in central Asia Minor, eldest of the Cappadocian Fathers, the older brother of Gregory of Nyssa and childhood friend of Gregory of Nazianzus (qq.v.), Basil and the latter Gregory received the best education available in the ancient world, having been trained both in rhetoric and, at the then “university town” of Athens, in philosophy. Raised as a Christian and from youth enamored with the great Christian thinker of the previous century, Origen (q.v.), Basil’s intellectual and spiritual life represented a continuation of the latter’s great task, the integration of Christian life and experience with the best of ancient Greek thought. He and Gregory of Nazianzus compiled a selection of quotes from Origen, bearing on prayer and the spiritual life, called the Philokalia. He was also significantly influenced by the nascent monasticism (q.v.), visiting Egypt as a young man and even attempting a not-altogether-successful experiment at the monastic life with his friend, Gregory. His life of active contribution to the Church began with his appointment as bishop to the metropolitan see of Cappadocia (q.v.), Caesarea, in 370. The nine years of life remaining to him he exhausted in a ministry of extraordinary effort and remarkable accomplishments.

Basil continued his lifelong interest in monasticism as a bishop, and the responses he wrote in reply to questions on the monastic life (the Longer and Shorter Rules), with their emphasis on communal life and social service, have exercised great influence in the history of cenobitic monasticism. His treatises On the Holy Spirit and the three Against Eunomius, written in reply to the attack on the teaching of the Trinity (q.v.)-the great ecclesiastical and imperial crisis of the era-laid down the main lines of Greek triadology. This work and his efforts to reconcile “Semiarians” to Orthodoxy would be confirmed at the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople (qq.v.) in 381, and expanded on by his brother and his friend, the two Gregories. His voluminous correspondence testifies to his skills and energy as pastor, ecumenical diplomat, and theologian. We have little from his commentaries on Scripture (q.v.) save his sermons on the opening chapter of Genesis, the Hexaemeron (“the six days”), but the latter bears eloquent testimony to his background in Greek philosophy and Christian theology, as well as to the sobriety and “Antiochene” sense for the value of the literal text, which characterize his use of Scripture in his other works. Finally, his sensitivity and deep biblical rooting are still remembered in the canon of the Eucharist, the anaphora, contained today in the liturgy (qq.v.). One liturgy bears his name and is celebrated ten times a year in the Orthodox Church. These great prayers display the marks of his thought and style, though the liturgy itself is now of a composite nature.