Father of Eastern monasticism, admirable for his moral integrity, his works of charity, and the excellent administration of his diocese, Saint Basil was above all labelled “the Great” for his defence of the Holy Trinity in the face of the Arian heresy.
Newsdesk (07/01/2023 7:53 AM Gaudium Press) The fourth century of the Christian era could be described as a period of theological controversies. Nevertheless, it was a golden age for the Church, for, precisely because on account of this, eminent figures arose in defence of the Faith. Among them were three Cappadocians whose lives are intertwined in this golden chain of faithfulness: St. Gregory of Nazianzus, St. Gregory of Nyssa and his brother St. Basil the Great, to whom we dedicate this article.
Saint Basil and his family of saints
Born in Caesarea of Cappadocia around 330, St Basil belonged to a rich and noble Christian family. A few years before his birth, the Church had received freedom of worship from Constantine, ending the period of great persecutions. It is said that his paternal grandparents were among the Christians who, under the rule of Diocletian, had to take refuge for many years in some of the woods in the region in order to survive without denying the Faith. As a child he received his first religious instructions from his grandmother, also a saint, named Macrina. Here is how he himself describes her beneficial influence:
“What argument would be more convincing to prove the authenticity of our faith, if not the fact that we were brought up and guided by that blessed lady born among you? I refer to Macrina, that illustrious lady, from whom we learned the words of the most blessed Gregory, the wonder worker, and all that was received from an uninterrupted oral tradition, which she faithfully kept in her heart. She forged our souls while they were still tender and initiated them into the ways of piety.”
From his childhood, Basil showed himself to have a fiery soul and a vigorous but gentle temperament, which marked his earthly career, especially when he took on the pastoral care of the Diocese of Caesarea. His strong temperament, however, did not carry into his health, always fragile, to which he had to devote frequent care throughout his life. “With us illness follows illness”; “our bad health, which dates from a much previous time and has not yet left us…”, he wrote in letters.
A community of young people in Athens
He received his first schooling in Caesarea, and then went to Constantinople and Athens, important academic centres at that time. He studied rhetoric and philosophy, standing out among the other students due to his rare intellectual capacity and moral rectitude.
In Athens, Basil found one of the greatest treasures of his life: Gregory of Nazianzus, of whom he became a close and faithful friend. Providential was this relationship, which encouraged them to live with integrity amidst the dissolute customs of Greek students. In addition, they helped one another to stand firm in the faith, because there were not a few occasions when both fellow students and teachers were hostile to religion. “Athens is pestiferous to those who desire the salvation of the soul”, St. Gregory of Nazianzus would comment when recalling those years.
Ridiculing true doctrine
Ironies, sarcasms, insidious questions, these were the methods used to ridicule true doctrine and, unfortunately, Christian students were not always up to the task of refuting the untruths and slanders. It was during one of these student disputes that Gregory met Basil. Unhappy with the latter’s presence, some classmates, envious of his talent and eloquence, approached him and “attacked him with very tricky and subtle questions, intending to knock him down at the first round”, St Gregory of Nazianzus recalls.
Yet admirable was his response. “When I realized the prodigious efficacy of Basil’s dialectic, I joined him… And thus between us was kindled the flame of friendship, which was not simply a spark, but a beacon, high and luminous”.
United in the same ideal, they both drew up a plan of life: to abstain from banquets, feasts and so many other things still very much impregnated with paganism. This example soon led a significant number of youths, who also aspired to perfection, to join the two. “A significant community of young men was formed around us who had Basil as their guide, followed him and shared his joy”.
When he finished his studies in Athens, he decided to return to Cappadocia. He took with him not only an important corpus of knowledge but also progress in virtue. His horizons had broadened and the disputes and fallacious arguments he had had to refute had given him a better understanding of the mentality of the world in which he lived and which he had to face in defence of the Faith.
The nothingness of the passing world
Back in Caesarea, he underwent the terrible temptation of leading a worldly and quiet life. His fame had spread and his fellow citizens had offered him a professorship in rhetoric, which he gladly accepted. Sin and dissolute life were far from appealing to him, but at the same time it was not to a comfortable life that Providence was calling him. And the divine instrument that revived in his soul the desire for perfection that had arisen while he was in Athens was his sister Macrina. Imbued with the fortitude of the virgins, whose veil she had received, she never ceased to exhort him to a consecrated life — to aim only at the Kingdom of Heaven, to detach himself from the ephemeral honours of this world and to listen to the inner voice that called him to dedicate himself to God.
“Macrina” – writes his brother, St Gregory of Nyssa – “guided him with such rapidity to the object of true philosophy, that he, turning away from that which the world adores, renounced the glory of eloquence in order to consecrate himself entirely to a life of poverty and work”. Later, St. Basil himself would write that he had wasted almost all his youth: “with my eyes wide open I contemplated the admirable light of truth, which before me emanated from the Gospel, as from a rising sun. I recognized the nothingness of the wisdom of the world which passes away and disappears”.
After his conversion, he travelled through Egypt, Palestine and Syria to visit and get to know the ascetics living there. He too wished to lead a secluded life, so he devoted himself to theology and began the study of Sacred Scripture.
Eastern monasticism is born
Back in Caesarea, he asked to be baptized – according to the custom of the time of being baptized as an adult – sold part of his possessions and began a life of hermitage near the river Iris, in Annesi, on one of the family estates. He was soon joined by Gregory of Nazianzus, followed by many others. St. Basil’s desire was to live in community, dividing the day into periods of study, work, prayer and sacrifice. Inspired by Gospel teachings, St. Basil based his work on love of God and neighbour.
In his rules, after listing the obligations, he exhorted those who were called to a greater degree of perfection: “Anyone who is in love with the heavenly ideal of an angelic life and wishes to become a companion in arms of the holy disciples of Christ, should put on strength to endure trials and enter bravely into the society of the monks. From the beginning, be a man who is not carried away by the affections of his relatives and have the courage to exchange earthly goods for those that do not die”.
Saint Basil spent five years in contemplative life. Perhaps he believed that he would spend his whole life there because the monastic ideal was what he most desired. But Providence had destined other paths for him, in an age troubled by heresies.
Bishop of Caesarea
Called by Eusebius to assist him, he was ordained a priest by him, and on Eusebius’ death Basil was elected Bishop of Caesarea to succeed him. He had been long known to all not only for his integrity and charitable works, but also for his fidelity to orthodoxy, something especially valuable in that historical context, the second period of the Arian crisis, the most nefarious heresy of the time.
Friends of vague formulas, which could be interpreted at will, the disciples of Arius continued to drag a great part of the faithful along with their ideas. Divided into three factions – open heretics, moderate Arians and semi-Arians – their influence was such that St. Basil wrote to St. Athanasius: “The whole Church is sinking, like so many ships on the high seas, wandering about aimlessly, colliding one against the other under the violence of the waves. It is a great shipwreck caused by the raging sea, and also by the disorder of the ships, one against the other, breaking up. Where can we find a pilot who is up to the task, who is worthy enough in the faith to awaken the Lord, so that He may command the winds and the sea”?
Seeing them supported by the emperor, who thought he had the right to intervene in the spiritual sphere, many of those who were faithful to the true doctrine of the Church compromised for fear of persecution and exile. Saint Basil himself was censured by the civil authorities, but he did not give in to their demands, remaining undaunted in defence of the Faith. The emperor went so far as to divide the region of the Saint’s diocese in order to restrict his activities. The latter, however, shrewd as he was, took advantage of the situation to create two new bishoprics – Nyssa and Seasima – placing at their head his brother Gregory and his friend of the same name.
One Essence in Three Divine Persons
The theological controversies with the Arians revolved mainly around the divinity of the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Council of Nicaea had affirmed the divinity and consubstantiality of the Second Person of the Trinity with the Father, and proclaimed faith in the Holy Spirit. However, it said nothing about the nature and substance of the Third Person, and did not define the terms substance, person and nature, used to defend the divinity of the Son, terms that were open to different interpretations.
A man of a deep spirit of piety, a contemplative and a man of great union with God, Basil managed to define the difference between the Greek terms used, making it understood that in God there is only one essence and three Persons. And that, therefore, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one God. In his Treatise on the Holy Spirit, he proclaimed the divinity of the Third Person and his consubstantial equality with the Father and the Son; and he showed that the terms ‘with’, ‘in whom’, ‘for whom’, “by whom”, used when mentioning the Holy Spirit, do not suppose that He has an origin or an essence different from the Father and the Son.
His greatest merit, therefore, was in clarifying Trinitarian theological terminology. He completed the groundwork of the Catholic orthodoxy of Nicaea, leaving no room for later heretical interpretations and contributing to the future definition of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, promulgated at the Council of Constantinople a few years after his death.
Known as “the Great” Saint Basil, while still alive
St. Basil spent nine years at the head of the Church of Caesarea, performing countless works of charity. He welcomed the poor, exhorted the rich in fraternal charity, continued to promote monastic life, founded a hospital known as the Basiliad.
In times of famine, he made every effort to alleviate the hardships his diocese was going through. In addition, many other works, together with all his apologetic activity, earned him the appellation “the Great” while he was still yet alive. “For the rest of men praise is made by force of exaggeration; but for the just, the simple truth of their acts suffices to show the abundance of their merits”. This sentence, pronounced by St. Basil concerning St. Gordius, a martyr, can perfectly be applied to him.
He delivered his righteous soul to God on the first day of January 379. Yet, in a certain sense we can say that he did not die, but remained alive, illuminating, like a sun of fidelity, in a perpetual and faithful example of love for the truth and for God.
By Lucilia Lins Brandão Veas, EP
Compiled by Roberta MacEwan