Saint Basil the Great

From his childhood, he was sent to Saint Macrina the Elder, his grandmother, who lived in the countryside near Neocaesarea in Pontus: it was there that he drew the first principles of virtue. "I have never forgotten," he would say later, "the strong impressions that the words and examples of this holy woman made upon my still tender soul." His father, who spent the greater part of his life in Pontus and who was the ornament of that province as much for his piety as for his eloquence, took it upon himself to teach him the first elements of literature; and he did so until his death, which occurred shortly after the birth of Saint Peter of Sebaste. The young Basil was then sent to Caesarea, where the sciences were flourishing; he distinguished himself there above those of his age by the rapidity of his progress, and at the same time, by his regularity and fervor, he attracted the admiration of all who knew him. He was, says Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, "above his age in his instruction, above his instruction in the firmness of his morals: a rhetorician among rhetoricians, even before sitting before the chairs of the sophists; a philosopher before the dogmas of philosophy, and, what is greatest of all, a priest for Christians before the priesthood.

The most skillful masters of Caesarea having nothing more to teach him, his parents sent him to Constantinople, where Libanius, the most famous rhetorician of his time and one of the first men of the empire, gave public lessons to universal applause. This great master knew how to distinguish Basil in the crowd of his disciples; he could not tire of admiring in him the happiest dispositions for the sciences, joined to a rare modesty and an extraordinary virtue. He says, in his epistles, that he felt as if carried out of himself every time he heard Basil speak in public. He always maintained a correspondence with him thereafter, and he never ceased to give him marks of that high esteem and profound veneration he had conceived for his merit. From Constantinople, Basil went to Athens with the intention of drawing new knowledge from it. This city had always been regarded as the temple of the muses since Pericles. People came there from all parts to train in that purity of language and that ancient elegance which have made the good writers of Greece so famous.

Libanius, a pagan by religion, taught rhetoric in Constantinople, Nicomedia, and Antioch. He was singularly honored by Julian the Apostate. He served the Emperor Theodosius, who raised him to the dignity of Praetorian Prefect. We still have from him Epistles, Orations, and Dictionaries, in which one finds frequent invectives against the Emperor Constantine the Great and against the Christian religion.

Libanius, op. S. Basil., Ep. 145, 152.

Saint Basil makes an excellent remark in his treatise *de Legendis gentilium libris*. Scripture and the maxims of life, he says, must be the principal study of Christians; but one must not conclude from this that eloquence and other parts of literature are useless to them; on the contrary, one must regard them as the leaves that serve to ornament and protect the fruit. Starting from this principle, he wants youth to be prepared for the sublime study of the sacred oracles through the reflective reading of the best poets and orators of profane antiquity; he orders at the same time that one use discretion in the choice of books placed in the hands of young people. One must, he adds, absolutely forbid them all those where there might be examples and maxims capable of corrupting their hearts.

Julian the Apostate felt better than anyone the utility that our religion derived from the study of letters; he judged that it would be impossible for him to annihilate Christianity, as he had proposed, as long as it had as defenders the most learned men of the empire, such as a Saint Athanasius, a Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, a Saint Hilary, a Theodore of Tarsus, an Apollinaris. This was what led him to forbid Christians from teaching grammar, eloquence, and philosophy. The Fathers were not the only ones who regarded this edict as a toxic act of tyranny; the pagans held the same judgment. One can see what Ammianus Marcellinus, who was of Julian's religion, and the panegyrist of this prince, says about it, l. xxii, c. 10; l. xxv, c. 4. One will also read with much satisfaction what concerns this piece of history in the History of the Lower Empire, by Le Beau, l. xii, n. 24, t. iii, p. 171.

This historian observes, following the testimony of the Fathers and contemporary historians, that Julian gave a second edict, by which Christians were forbidden to read profane authors. To make up for this loss, Apollinaris and Saint Gregory of Nazianzus composed poems on subjects of piety; but one did not compensate for the masterpieces of antiquity with works made in haste, whatever beauties they might otherwise contain.

It was in 352 that Saint Basil arrived in Athens. He found there Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, with whom he had formed the most intimate bond in Caesarea. As the latter already knew the customs of the Athenians, he gave wise advice to his friend and disposed all minds to receive him well. The gravity of Basil, joined to the advantageous idea that had been conceived of him, preserved him f rom the ill-treatment to w saint Grégoire de Nazianze Doctor of the Church who delivered the eulogy for Leontius. hich newcomers were always exposed from those who frequented the public schools.

The friendship of our two Saints was very different from that of young people, which is usually founded only on interest or the love of pleasure. They loved each other because they esteemed and respected each other mutually. There was, moreover, an admirable conformity of inclinations in them and an equal ardor for the acquisition of virtue and science. Their sole object was to consecrate themselves perfectly to the service of God; and, to reach this great end, they seized every opportunity to animate and support one another: but as abuses can slip into even the holiest friendships, they were continually on their guard so as not to fall into the traps of the enemy. They prayed assiduously and lived in a continuous mortification of their senses. To judge them by the gravity of their conduct, one would have taken them for angels devoid of bodies. With this vigilance over themselves, they found in their reciprocal friendship a thousand consolations and a thousand means to excite one another to the practice of good. They lived together and had a common table. Their union was never interrupted by a diversity of sentiments, and they appeared to have only one will. The spirit of ownership did not reign among them. In all their actions, they envisioned only the glory of God: it was to this that they referred their labors, their studies, their vigils, their fasts, and generally the use of all the faculties of their soul.

But they would have uselessly brought the precautions of which we have just spoken to shelter their innocence from danger, had they not been faithful in avoiding bad company. This is the remark that Saint Gregory of Nazianzus makes. "We had," he says, "no connection with the students who showed coarseness, impudence, and contempt for religion: we only frequented those who were peaceful and regular, those whose conversation could be profitable to us. We had persuaded ourselves that it was an illusion to mingle with sinners under the pretext of working to convert them, and that we should always fear that they might communicate their poison to us."

Saint Gregory of Nazianzus adds, speaking of himself and his friend: "We knew only two streets in the city: one led to the church and to the sacred ministers who celebrated the divine mysteries there and fed the flock of Jesus Christ with the bread of life; the other, for which we did not have nearly the same esteem, led to the public schools and to those who taught us the sciences. We left to others the streets by which one went to the theater, to spectacles, and to places where profane amusements were given. Our sanctification was our great business; our sole goal was to be called and to be effectively Christians: it was in this that we made all our glory consist."

Saint Basil became very skillful in the knowledge of the different parts of literature. He knew that this knowledge contributes much to extending the faculties of the mind, and that it is absolutely necessary to anyone who wants to excel in any science, especially in the art of oratory, which was in great esteem among the Greeks and Romans. Having the design, like his friend, to put themselves in a state to serve the Church usefully, they both applied themselves to perfecting themselves in true eloquence.

Saint Basil also excelled in philosophy, poetry, and other parts of literature. If one reads his writings attentively, and especially his book on the Creation or the work of six days, which he titled *Hexaëmeron*, one will recognize that he had more just ideas and more extensive knowledge of natural history than Aristotle, despite the help that the treasures of Alexandria provided to the latter. He possessed dialectics and the art of chaining consequences to principles so superiorly that one could not resist the force of his reasoning; they were so linked and so pressing, according to Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, that one would have had more trouble getting rid of them than getting out of a labyrinth. He took a general tincture of geometry, medicine, and other similar sciences, being persuaded with reason that without this tincture one can h ardly exce Hexaëmeron A series of homilies on the creation of the world in six days. l in any art in particular; but he despised everything that was useless to a man solely devoted to the defense and glory of religion. By thus setting limits to his curiosity, says Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, he showed himself no less admirable for what he neglected in the sciences than for what he learned of them. The course of his preliminary studies being finished, he applied himself seriously to meditating on Scripture, that inexhaustible source of sentiments and knowledge that elevates man to heaven. He also read the works of the Fathers of the Church with much assiduity. By all these means combined, he amassed a rich treasure of science and made himself capable of exercising, with that superiority that is known, the important ministry of the divine word, and of contributing with a marvelous force to the advancement of piety in souls.

Basil was soon regarded in Athens as an oracle to be consulted on the sciences, whether divine or human. The students and masters of this city, full of esteem for his merit, employed all sorts of means to fix him among them; but they could not succeed: Basil believed that he was accountable to his homeland for the talents that God had given him. Having therefore left his dear Gregory in Athens, he departed in 355 to go to Caesarea in Cappadocia, where Gregory did not delay in following him. Although he was still young, he opened a school of rhetoric in this city. His friends also determined him to be part of the bar: for it was by these two paths that orators and persons of quality began to make themselves known and perfected themselves in eloquence.

Philosophy had already raised Basil above ambition, and he felt only contempt for distinguished positions and all the vain advantages he could promise himself in the world. He had always led a very regular life and had occupied himself only with seeking the kingdom of God; but the honorable reception he was given in his country, joined to the applause he received from all sides, exposed him to a very delicate temptation, that of vainglory. No sooner had he perceived the danger he was running than fear took hold of his soul. Shortly after, he resolved to renounce the world entirely, in order to move further away from the precipice on the edge of which he had been walking. Saint Macrina, his sister, and Saint Greg ory of Nazianz Sainte Macrine Elder sister of Basil, she encouraged him toward the monastic life. us contributed not a little to strengthening him in this resolution. By representing to him the advantages of voluntary poverty, they gave birth in him to a contempt for perishable glory and inspired in him an ardent desire to strive for perfection. Basil, by their advice, gave the greater part of his goods to the poor, and, like a man emerging from lethargy, he began to see the light of heavenly wisdom and to feel all the nothingness of created things. In these dispositions, he devoted himself to the labors of penance by embracing the monastic state. Libanius was singularly struck by such a generous contempt for the world, and he could not tire of admiring the greatness of soul that was its principle.

Saint Basil and Saint Gregory of Nazianzus often put eloquence among the things they abandoned when renouncing the world; but by this they mean that vain assemblage of flowers and ornaments which have no other effect than to charm the ears. Perhaps they speak of the profane use of eloquence, which one did not renounce in their age without making a great sacrifice. Whatever their thought may be, one sees by their writings that they did not condemn eloquence considered in itself; and their example will always serve to confound those who, under the pretext of imitating the simplicity of the Apostles, announce the word of God with a rusticity that comes from their laziness or their ignorance.

But let us let Saint Gregory of Nazianzus speak, and we shall see what he thought on this point. "After having abandoned the world," he says, "I have reserved for myself only eloquence. I do not repent of the pains and fatigues I endured both by sea and by land to acquire the knowledge of this art; I would wish, both for myself and for my friends, that we possessed all its strength and all its perfection." He says in another place: "There remains to me only eloquence of all that I have possessed; I offer and consecrate it entirely to my God. The voice of his commandments and the impulse of his spirit have made me abandon all the rest, in order to exchange what I had for the precious stone of the Gospel. I have therefore become, or rather I ardently wish to become, that happy merchant who gives perishable goods to procure eternal ones: but, in the capacity of a minister of the Gospel, I devote myself solely to the care of preaching it; that is my portion, and I will never fail in the duty imposed upon me."

Basil, after his retreat, wished to live only for God. Persuaded that the name of monk would serve only for his condemnation if he did not faithfully fulfill the obligations of his state, he undertook, in 357, to travel in Syria, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. His goal was to visit the monks and hermits who inhabited the deserts of that country, in order to acquire a perfect knowledge of the duties to which his new way of life subjected him. He was very edified by seeing these holy solitaries, who showed by all their conduct that they regarded themselves as strangers on earth and as citizens of heaven. Their examples and their discourses strengthened him even more in his first resolution. We learn from himself that in all his travels he chose as directors only those whose faith was in conformity with that of the Catholic Church.

In 358, he returned to Cappadocia. Dianius, his bishop, who had formerly baptized him, ordained him reader. This prelate made a profession of being attached to the doctrine of the Church; but he had the imprudence to engage in steps favorable to the Arians. This conduct caused deep pain to Basil, who respected Dianius as his pastor, and who moreover noticed in him several fine qualities; but the obligation to keep unity in the faith acting upon him more powerfully than any other motive, he separated himself from his communion, especially when he had seen him subscribe to the formula of Rimini.

The Saint left Cappadocia in 358 and retired to Pontus, where he chose as his dwelling the house of his grandmother, which was situated on the bank of the Iris, at Annisi. Emmelia, his m othe Pont Province of origin of Saint Alexander. r, and Macrina, his sister, had founded a monastery there for persons of their sex. This monastery was then governed by Macrina. Basil founded one for men on the other side of the river, and he had the conduct of it for four years, that is to say until the year 362, the time at which he resigned this position in favor of Saint Peter of Sebaste, his brother. At seven or eight stadia from the monastery of Saint Macrina was the church of the Forty Martyrs, enriched with a considerable portion of the relics of these blessed soldiers of Jesus Christ, and so renowned in the writings of Saint Basil and his friends. This church was not far from Neocaesarea.

Besides the monastery of which we have spoken, Saint Basil founded several others, both for men and for women, in different places in Pontus. He kept a general inspection over these communities, even during his episcopate. It was for their instruction that he composed his ascetic works, among others his great and small rules. He gave the state of the cenobites the preference over that of the hermits; the former seemed to him in general much safer than the latter. He often repeats there that a monk must reveal to his superior what is most secret in his soul, and submit in everything to his decisions. At the same time that he prescribes hospitality toward strangers, he forbids serving them delicate dishes; which, according to him, would be as ridiculous as if the monks changed their clothes to receive them. An austere life, he continues while speaking to his religious, will deliver you from useless visits, and will keep away from your home those who have the spirit of the world. Your table must preach sobriety even to strangers. He makes an enumeration of the canonical hours and shows their excellence. By that of Prime, he says, we consecrate to God the first fruits of our thoughts, we fill our hearts with pious sentiments and with that salutary joy which the thought of God excites in us. The Monastic Constitutions, which bear the name of Saint Basil, differ in several articles from the rules of which we have just spoken, and are not attributed to this Father by ancient authors: they appear to be of a somewhat later date. The Rule of Saint Basil is followed even today by all the monks of the East, even by those who call themselves of the Order of Saint Anthony.

Basil painted himself in his writings with the greatest truth: but he must be represented in his retreat, so as not to deprive his virtue of the tributes due to it; moreover, considered in this respect, he has always served as a model for those who, throughout the centuries, have wished to attain eminent holiness. He never wore anything but a tunic and a cloak; he slept on the hard ground, sometimes kept watch for entire nights, and made no use of the bath, which was a great mortification in hot countries, especially before the use of linen. He covered himself at night with a hair shirt, which he took off during the day, in order to hide from men his love for penance. He accustomed himself, despite all the repugnance of nature, to endure the excessive cold that reigns on the mountains of Pontus. Each day he took only one meal, and this meal consisted of a little water and bread, to which he added a few herbs on feast days. The food he took was in such small quantity that one would almost have said he lived without eating. Saint Gregory of Nyssa compared his abstinence to the fast of Elijah; and Saint Gregory of Nazianzus said to him, on the occasion of his extreme paleness, that his body seemed barely animated. He adds in another place, still speaking of the Saint, that he was devoid of goods, of flesh, and almost of blood. Basil himself teaches us that he treated his body like a slave always ready to revolt, if he did not take care to keep it continually in check. One sees from his epistles that he was subject to frequent and even continual infirmities. He says in a letter that at the time when he was at his best, he was weaker than those who are ordinarily sick and abandoned by doctors.

The mortification of the senses was accompanied in him by that of the will; and the latter partook in some way of the prodigious: he added to it an extraordinary humility. It was by an effect of this virtue that he had such an ardent desire to bury himself, so to speak, in solitude and to live entirely unknown to men. Solitude, however, communicated to him nothing sad or austere; he was of a gentleness and patience that stood the test of all events. His unalterable sweetness of character had caused Libanius the greatest admiration; it drew a new luster from an amiable gravity by which it was tempered. The slightest fault against chastity filled him with horror, and his love for this virtue led him to build several monasteries for virgins to whom he gave a written rule.

During a famine that made its ravages felt around the year 350, he sold the rest of his goods to assist the unfortunate. He wished to live, says Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, in the greatest possible poverty, and nothing could ever shake him in his resolution. By stripping himself of everything he possessed in the world, he was preparing himself to cross the stormy sea of this life more securely. His stripping was so complete that he did not reserve for himself the smallest part of his goods; and even when he had been raised to the episcopate, he had, to provide for his subsistence, only the liberality of his friends. To follow the crucified Jesus in perfect nakedness, these were his riches.

In the various exercises of the monastic life, he strove to imitate and even surpass the excellent models he had seen in Syria and Egypt. Following the example of these pious solitaries, he wore a habit made of coarse cloth which he fastened with a belt; but these outward marks of penance were in him, as in them, only the symbols of a great depth of humility, detachment, and mortification. He divided his time between prayer, manual labor, and meditation on Scripture. Often he went into the neighboring villages to teach the principles of the faith to the peasants and to exhort them to the practice of virtue.

At first, something was missing from his happiness, because he did not enjoy the presence of Saint Gregory of Nazianzus. He therefore wrote him several letters to urge him to come and share with him the charms of solitude, and he pressed him in the most vivid manner not to refuse him the help he expected from his company and his examples. In one of his letters, he admirably depicts for him the advantages that retreat provides for praying with fervor and for winning a complete victory over one's passions. A monk, according to the definition he gives of him, is a man who prays continually; who sanctifies manual labor by a continual union with God, especially by the singing of psalms; a man whose heart is always raised toward God and who has no other object than to adorn his soul with virtues through the meditation of the holy books. He says that a monk should live only on bread and water, and take only one meal a day; that his sleep cannot be prolonged beyond the middle of the night, and that he must, rising then, persevere until daybreak in prayer. Basil, according to the report of the two Saint Gregorys, traced his true portrait in the letter in question here.

Saint Gregory of Nazianzus yielded to the invitations of his friend and went to join him in Pontus. Shut up together in a poor hut, they led a very austere life there. They had a small garden whose soil was extremely sterile and which they cultivated themselves. Gregory, having since been drawn from his solitude, bitterly regretted the tranquility and happiness that he and Basil enjoyed while singing psalms, while keeping watch in prayer, which raised their souls to heaven, while exercising their bodies through manual labor, which consisted of carrying wood, cutting stones, planting trees, digging canals, etc. The two Saints also had set hours for the study of Scripture. In 362, Basil took some of his monks with him and returned to Caesarea in Cappadocia.

However, Va lens, Valens Roman emperor and protector of Arianism who exiled Eusebius. associated with the empire (364) by his brother Valentinian, who ceded the East to him, having allowed himself to be seduced by Eudoxius of Constantinople and Euzoius of Antioch, declared himself the protector of Arianism. In 366, he made a journey to Caesarea with the intention of placing the churches of that city in the hands of the heretics. Basil was then recalled by Bishop Eusebius. Alarmed by the danger threatening the faith, he hastened to fly to his aid. He showed such zeal and prudence that the Arians were forced, after several useless attempts, to desist from their pretensions. The discourses he delivered confirmed the people in the doctrine of the Church. He did not limit himself to warning the faithful against the venom of heresy; he also exhorted them to practice the Gospel in the most perfect manner. He reunited divided hearts through sincere reconciliations and succeeded in stifling all seeds of discord. During a famine that devastated the country, he gave proof of boundless charity and ensured that the poor found a secure resource in the alms of the wealthy. He washed their feet, served them at table, and distributed to them with his own hands all the provisions necessary for their subsistence. Such conduct won him the friendship of Eusebius; this prelate even conceived a high esteem for him and undertook nothing of importance without having consulted him. After his death, which occurred around the middle of the year 370, Basil was elected to succeed him. The news of this choice caused extraordinary satisfaction to Saint Athanasius, and he announced from that moment the victories that Saint Basil would win over the reigning heresy.

This new dignity made Basil's virtues shine more than ever; he seemed to surpass himself as much as he had previously surpassed others. He preached morning and evening, even on days when the faithful were occupied with their ordinary work. His audience was so numerous that he gave it the title of *sea*. People ran to his discourses with such eagerness that he compared himself to a mother who, when her breasts are exhausted, does not fail to present them still to her child, so that by this means she might prevent his cries. His flock, as he himself informs us, had such a great hunger for the word of God that he was obliged to make his voice heard at a time when a long illness had robbed him of his strength, and when he was barely in a condition to speak. He established in Caesarea several devotional practices that he had seen observed in Egypt, Syria, and other places, especially that of assembling in the morning at the church to pray in common and to sing certain psalms before sunrise. Most of those who were present at this assembly appeared penetrated with a lively compunction and shed a torrent of tears. The people received communion on Sundays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and all the feasts of the martyrs.

The province having been afflicted by a great drought, Basil asked heaven for the cessation of the scourge; and his prayers, according to the report of Saint Gregory of Nyssa, were answered. No bishop carried the love of the poor further than he, regarding himself as their defender and father. Not content with giving abundant alms, he founded in Caesarea a vast hospital, called by Saint Gregory of Nazianzus *a new city*, which, because of its founder, was named *Basiliad*, and which was famous long after t he episco Basiléide Vast hospital founded by Basil in Caesarea for the poor and the sick. pate of the Saint. "One can," adds Saint Gregory of Nazianzus in speaking of the same hospital, "count it among the wonders of the world, so great is the number of the poor and the sick who are received there, so admirable are the order and the care with which the various needs of the unfortunate are provided for." Saint Basil often went there to console those who were suffering and to instruct them in making good use of their trials.

This prince, seeing that Basil was like an impregnable tower against which the efforts of heresy could do nothing, resolved to use rigorous measures against him. He had already instilled deep feelings of fear into the souls of the orthodox bishops by this means. After crossing several provinces where he had vented all his resentment on those who would not embrace Arianism, he arrived in Cappadocia. His intention was to ruin the Archbishop of Caesarea, in whom he found more resistance to his will than in all the other prelates. He sent the Prefect Modestus ahead of him, with orders to induce Basil, through thr eats or Modeste Praetorian prefect under Valens who attempted to intimidate Basil. promises, to communicate with the Arians. The prefect, having seated himself on his tribunal with lictors armed with their fasces around him, summoned the archbishop to appear before him. Basil presented himself with a serene and tranquil face. Modestus received him with courtesy and urged him, with insinuating words, to do what the emperor required of him. This means having failed, he took on a threatening air and said in a tone of anger: "Do you think, Basil, to oppose such a great emperor, to whose will everyone obeys? Do you not fear feeling the effects of the power with which we are armed?" Basil: "To what can this power extend?" Modestus: "To the confiscation of goods, to exile, to torments, to death." Basil: "Threaten me with something else; for none of these things makes an impression on me." Modestus: "What do you mean?" Basil: "He who has nothing is safe from confiscation. I have only a few books and the rags I wear; I do not imagine that you are jealous of taking them from me. As for exile, it will not be easy for you to condemn me to it: it is heaven, and not the country I inhabit, that I regard as my homeland. I fear torments little. My body is in such a state of thinness and weakness that it will not be able to suffer them for long; the first blow will end my life and my pains. I fear death even less, which seems to me a favor; it will reunite me sooner with my Creator, for whom alone I live." Modestus: "Never has anyone spoken to Modestus with such audacity." Basil: "It is undoubtedly the first time you have dealt with a bishop. In ordinary circumstances, we bishops are the gentlest and most submissive of all men; we have no pride with the least individual, much less with those who are clothed with such power; but when it concerns religion, we look only to God, and we despise everything else. Fire, the sword, beasts, and iron claws then become our delights. Use, therefore, threats and tortures; nothing will be able to shake us." Modestus: "I give you until tomorrow to deliberate on the course you must take." Basil: "This delay is useless; I will be tomorrow as I am today."

The prefect could not help but admire the intrepidity of the holy archbishop. The next day, he went to find the emperor, who had arrived in Caesarea, and informed him of everything that had happened. Valens, irritated by the poor success of the conference, wanted another one held, at which he attended with Modestus and one of the officers of his household named Demosthenes. This attempt did not succeed any better than the previous one. The prefect made a third; but it served, like the others, only to cover the Saint in glory. In the end, Modestus said to the emperor: "We are defeated; he is a man above threats, invincible to all discourse, unshakable by all persuasions. One may attempt to break those who have less courage; but as for him, one must drive him out by open violence, or not expect to make him yield through threats." Valens therefore left him in peace for some time. Having gone to the great church on the day of the Epiphany, he was as surprised as he was edified by the good order and the respectful manner with which the divine office was celebrated. What struck him most was the piety and recollection with which the archbishop was imbued at the altar. He did not dare to present himself for communion, for fear that it would be refused to him; but he made his offering, which was accepted as that of the orthodox, Basil believing that on such an occasion it was prudent not to observe ecclesiastical discipline in all its rigor.

However, the emperor, obsessed by the Arians, soon changed his disposition; he allowed himself to be persuaded to give an order for the exile of the Archbishop of Caesarea: but God visibly took the cause of his servant into his own hands. On the very night of the day the order had been dispatched, Valentinian Galates, son of Valens, and about six years old, was attacked by a violent fever, for which the doctors could find no remedy. The Empress Dominica told the emperor that this illness was a just punishment for the exile of the holy archbishop; she added, moreover, that she had been greatly troubled by frightening dreams. Thereupon, Valens sent for Basil, who was preparing to leave the city. No sooner had the Saint entered the palace than the young prince felt better, and Basil assured them that he would not die, provided they committed to having him raised in the maxims of the Catholic doctrine. The condition having been accepted, he began to pray, and the child was healed. Valens, obsessed again by the heretics, did not keep the promise he had made; he allowed an Arian bishop to baptize his son, who fell ill again and died shortly after. This blow did not convert Valens; he condemned Basil to exile a second time. When the order was brought to him to sign, he took one of those reeds that were used then instead of pens; but it broke in his hands, as if it had refused to serve iniquity. He asked for a second and a third, which broke equally. Having asked for a fourth, he felt an extraordinary trembling and agitation in his hand and even in his arm. Seized with fear, he tore up the paper and left the archbishop in peace. The Prefect Modestus showed himself more grateful than Valens toward Basil. As he had been cured, through his prayers, of a dangerous illness, he publicly declared that he owed his life to him; from then on, he was always sincerely attached to him.

This was not the only persecution that Basil suffered, nor the only service he rendered to the Church. Eusebius, vicar of the Praetorian Prefect of the East, or governor of the provinces of the diocese of Pontus, uncle of the Empress Dominica, and an Arian like her, was one of the persecutors of Saint Basil, and this was on the occasion of a widow of high birth, whom an assessor of this magistrate wanted to marry by force. She took refuge in the church and went to embrace the altar, from where she hoped she would not be torn away. Eusebius demanded her, and Saint Basil refused to surrender her, first because of the sanctity of the asylum, and then because bishops are obliged to protect widows and virgins. The governor, transported with anger, sent his men to look for this woman even in the room of Saint Basil, hoping thereby to discredit a Saint whose exemplary chastity was beyond all suspicion. Eusebius did not stop there: he also gave orders that Saint Basil be brought to him to force him to answer before him like a criminal. Being seated on his tribunal, and Saint Basil standing, he ordered that the wretched cloak that covered him be torn off. The Saint offered to strip himself of his tunic as well, if he wished. This generous disposition further offended Eusebius, who dared to threaten to have him struck. The holy bishop presented his body, that is to say, the skeleton of his bones covered with his skin, to receive the blows. The governor, irritated even more, as if the Saint had insulted him, told him in a fury that he would have him torn with iron claws and have his liver torn from his entrails. Saint Basil replied with a smile: "You will oblige me by ridding me of something that is so troublesome to me." Meanwhile, the news of what was happening spread through the city of Caesarea, which was immediately moved by the peril of its bishop. Everyone regarded the injury done to him as their own harm. The whole crowd in an uproar began to rise up and march for the defense of the common father of the people. The armorers, embroiderers, and drapers, who worked for the court, showed themselves the most ardent. Everyone made weapons of the tools of their trade or of whatever they found at hand. They ran to the place where the governor was, a torch in one hand, stones or sticks in the other; even the women armed themselves with their spindles and distaffs, and all the people together, following only the movement of their fury, sought the governor to tear him to pieces. This man, so proud, seeing himself so suddenly surrounded by an unforeseen danger, changed his language and demeanor in an instant; he appeared trembling and humbled, reduced to playing the part of a suppliant. Saint Basil himself had compassion on him, and he used his authority to pull him from the peril and save his life.

In the same year, Saint Basil fell ill and felt that he must prepare for his passage to eternity. No sooner had the news of the danger to his life spread than the consternation became general. A prodigious crowd gathered at his house, so keen was the interest taken in his health; but the Saint was approaching the moment when his labors were to be crowned. He died on January 4, 379, after having said: "Lord, into your hands I commend my spirit." He was fifty-one years old.

We shall add to what we have already said of his love for poverty, that he did not leave enough for himself to have a stone tomb made; but his parishioners, not content with raising a lasting monument to him in their hearts, also honored him with a magnificent funeral. His body was carried by the hands of the Saints and accompanied by an innumerable multitude of people. Everyone hastened to touch the funeral shroud that covered him, as well as the bed upon which he was carried, in the persuasion that they would derive some benefit from it. Groans and sighs drowned out the chanting of the psalms. Pagans and Jews wept with the Christians: all lamented the death of Basil, whom they regarded as their common father and as the most famous doctor in the world. Those who had known him took pleasure in recounting his smallest actions and recalling what they had heard him say. Many affected to imitate his exterior, his gait, and even his slowness in speaking. He was copied even in the shape of his bed and his clothes.

It is from Saint Gregory of Nazianzus that one learns all these details. In the panegyric he delivered in honor of his friend, he painted his virtues with the most vivid and touching colors; and one can be assured that his discourse will be no less immortal on earth than the memory of the one he had undertaken to celebrate. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Saint Amphilochius, and Saint Ephrem also delivered panegyrics in honor of the holy Archbishop of Caesarea. According to the first two, the Greeks, immediately after his death, celebrated his feast on June 1, the day on which they still observe it today. The Latins moved it to the fourteenth of the same month, which was the day of his episcopal ordination.

Theodoret gives Saint Basil the title of Great, and this title has been confirmed by the suffrage of the following centuries. He is called by the same Father, the torch of the universe; by Saint Sophronius, the honor and ornament of the Church; by Saint Isidore of Pelusium, a man inspired by God; by the General Council of Chalcedon, the Great Basil, the minister of grace, who explained the truth to the whole earth.

Saint Gregory of Nazianzus says, speaking of the writings of Saint Basil: "When I read his treatise on creation, I seem to see my Creator drawing all things from nothingness. When I read his works against the heretics, I believe I see the fire of Sodom falling upon the enemies of the faith and reducing their criminal tongues to ashes. If I go through his book on the Holy Spirit, I feel within me the operation of God, and I no longer fear to proclaim the truth aloud. By reading his explanation of the Holy Scripture, I penetrate into the deepest abyss of mysteries. His panegyrics of the martyrs make me despise my body and inspire in me a noble ardor for the combat. His moral discourses help me to purify my body and my soul, so that I may become a temple worthy of God and an instrument fit to praise him, to bless him, and to manifest his glory with his power."

He is represented: 1st, carrying a church in his hand, to mark that he is the founder of the Basilians; 2nd, presenting to a poor man a tray loaded with food, no doubt because he had founded a hospital where he served the sick and fed the unfortunate; 3rd, receiving the offerings of the faithful; 4th, before the prefect Modestus, whom he confounds with his answers.

## WRITINGS OF SAINT BASIL.

In indicating the works of Saint Basil, we shall follow the order in which they are arranged in the 3-volume folio edition.

The first volume contains: 1° The Hexaemeron, or the explanation of the work of the six days, in nine homilies. This work has always been singularly esteemed by both the ancients and the moderns, as much for the erudition displayed therein as for the incomparable elegance noted in its composition. 2° Thirteen homilies on the Psalms. Saint Basil, according to Cassiodorus, had explained the entire Scripture; but his explanations have not reached us. The commentary on Isaiah cannot be contested to the holy Doctor, as Dom Cellier proved against Dom Garnier. 3° The five Books against Eunomius. This is a refutation of Arianism; it was written against the apology for this heresy made by Eunomius. This heresiarch, born in Cappadocia, had been raised to the diaconate by Eudoxius, the Arian patriarch of Antioch. He had even more reputation in his party than Aetius, whose disciple he was. Having caused great troubles in Antioch, Chalcedon, and Constantinople, he was exiled by Emperor Theodosius to Halmyris, on the Danube. Shortly after, he was permitted to return to Caesarea in Cappadocia. He retired to an estate he owned in Barera, in the same province, and died there in 393. He was not content with maintaining that the Word was a pure creature; he added several other errors to Arianism.

The works contained in the second volume are: 1° Twenty-four Homilies on various moral subjects and on the feasts of the martyrs. One must primarily distinguish, for beauty and elegance, the one where the holy Doctor combats anorexia, gluttony, and drunkenness. 2° The Ascetica. Under this title, three separate discourses titled Ascetica are included: the treatises on the Judgment of God and on Faith, the Morals, the Great Rules (fifty-five in number), and the three hundred and thirteen Lesser Rules. Saint Basil composed these works at different times for the instruction of those who had followed him into his retreat or who had placed themselves under his guidance. The Morals are a collection of passages from Scripture on penance and the principal duties of the Christian life. In the same volume are two discourses that have no particular title, some regulations for the punishment of monks and nuns, and monastic constitutions. It is not certain that the two discourses are by Saint Basil. The Regulations and Monastic Constitutions cannot be attributed to him.

One finds in the third volume: 1° The book on the Holy Spirit, which is addressed to Saint Amphilochius and was written in 375. The divinity of the Holy Spirit is proven therein by various passages of Scripture, by the creation of the world, by the gifts of grace and miracles, and by all the divine attributes recognized in Him. The author proves the same thing by the tradition of the Church, of which he imperatively shows the use and necessity, c. XXVII, p. 54. The divinity of the Holy Spirit, as well as the necessity of tradition, is also very well proven in the first of the books against Eunomius. 2° Letters, 336 in number. Photius proposes them as models for those who wish to excel in the epistolary genre. Three are called canonical. The Saint therein fixes the term of public penance that was to be enjoined upon sinners. Beveridge gave a good edition of them in the collection of the canons of the Greek Church. In the letter to Caesaria, which was written in 372, Saint Basil says that during the persecution of Valens, a time when priests often found themselves in the necessity of hiding, it was permitted for the faithful to take the Eucharist home and commune themselves. In letter 207, p. 341, he makes a beautiful apology for the monks who rose at midnight to pray and who fasted well in the continuous exercise of composition. The only vengeance he wishes to take upon their enemies is that they too might be determined to tears and penance. In another letter, he exhorts Suronus, his relative, who was duke or governor of Scythia, to continue to relieve the Christians who were suffering in Persia, and asks him to procure for him relics of the Martyrs who had recently given their lives for Jesus Christ. Saint Basil often exhorts the faithful to celebrate the feasts of the Martyrs. He shows great veneration for the relics of the Saints, before which he says that Christians pray in their needs, and that it is not uselessly that they invoke the intercession of these friends of God.

3° The book on Virginity is unworthy of Saint Basil, although it bears the name of this Father and was written in the same century. It is addressed to Letulus, bishop of Melitene, to whom Saint Gregory of Nyssa wrote his canonical letter. Letulus was not made bishop until 381, two years after the death of Saint Basil. One finds in the book on Virginity two examples of sacramental confession, p. 646. Saint Basil himself often inculcates the use of auricular confession of sins.

We have, under the name of Saint Basil, a Liturgy that is followed by almost all the Greek Churches, at least since the 6th century. The liturgies of the Copts and the Egyptians are only a translation of it, according to Renaudot.

We learn Liturgie Form of Eucharistic celebration attributed to the saint. from Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, Saint Procopius, Peter the Deacon, the Seventh General Council, etc., that Saint Basil had compiled a liturgy; but we do not dare to affirm that it is precisely the same as that which bears his name today, and which is followed by the Greeks, Copts, Arabs, etc.

Erasmus, in the beautiful preface he placed at the head of the edition he gave of the works of Saint Basil, calls this Father the most accomplished orator who has ever appeared; he adds that his style should serve as a model for those who aspire to true eloquence. His judgment has been confirmed by that of modern critics. Rollin says that one must at least place Saint Basil in the first class of orators and regard him as one of the most skillful masters of eloquence.

But let us listen to Photius, who was such a good connoisseur in this genre. "Whoever," he says, cod. 141, "wishes to become an accomplished panegyrist or orator will need neither Plato nor Demosthenes if he takes Basil as a model. There is no writer whose diction is purer, more beautiful, or more energetic, nor who thinks with more force and solidity. He unites everything necessary to persuade, with sweetness, clarity, and precision. His style, always natural, flows with the same ease as a stream issuing from its source."

Similar to Thucydides and Demosthenes, he thinks much and knows how to link together the thoughts that present themselves in a crowd to his mind. There is as much clarity in his expressions as there is vivacity and accuracy in his ideas, and brilliance and fecundity in his imagination. In him, depth does not harm the harmony of the periods. He possesses the art of transitions and that of placing figures appropriately so well that he rivals Plato and Xenophon in sweetness. What makes him especially recommendable is the talent for conceiving things without confusion, for presenting them in a suitable light, for animating them, for communicating to them a sort of life, for bringing light into what is most obscure, and for imprinting in the minds of his readers those vivid images that he had formed for himself.

The best edition we have of the works of Saint Basil is that which the Benedictines of the Congregation of Saint-Maur gave in Paris. The first two volumes appeared in 1721 and 1722, through the care of Dom Garnier. Dom Prudent Maran published the third volume in 1730 and added to it the Life of the holy Doctor.

This edition has been reproduced by MM. Gaume and by the Abbé Migne.

For the history of this Life, we have followed and most often reproduced Godascard, who brought the principal traits to light better than Father Giry. — See the panegyrics and funeral orations pronounced in his honor by Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, Saint Amphilochius, and Saint Ephrem, who all exalt him particularly, as well as the ancient ecclesiastical historians: Hermant, Tillemont, Cave, Jos. Assemani, in Calend. univ. ad 1 jun., t. vi, p. 4; Fialon, étude litt. sur S. Bas.