1. Biography

Basil the Great was born in Caesarea, Cappadocia, in 329. He was born into a wealthy and committed Christian family. During the persecutions launched by Emperor Diocletian (284-305), his maternal grandfather was killed and his paternal grandfather, along with his family, was hiding in the woods of the Pontos for seven years.

His father, Basil the Elder, was known for his philanthropy, while his mother, Aimilia, was born into a noble and wealthy family. This marriage produced five daughters and five sons. The elder daughter of the family, Makrina, after the early death of her fiancé, devoted her life to piety. The other sisters got married. One of the brothers died at an early age, while three of them became bishops and were subsequently sainted. Basil was the eldest brother. The next was Gregory, the subsequent bishop of Nyssa, while Peter became metropolitan of Sebasteia.

Basil received his first education at home. He later attended lessons in Caesarea and followed higher studies in Athens, where he got familiar with Neoplatonism, which affected greatly his way of thinking and teaching. In Athens he studied by the famous orators of the time Himerios and Proairesios.¹

In Athens Basil met Gregory the Theologian, with whom he established a long-standing friendship. In the same period he met the subsequent Emperor Julian, who was studying in the same city. When he returned home Basil taught rhetoric. Around 357, he travelled to Egypt, Palestine and Mesopotamia. Impressed by the ascetic life of the monks in those regions, he decided to devote his life to asceticism in a tranquil place on the banks of a river near Neokaisareia. Basil invited Gregory there, but Gregory’s obligations to his aged parents prevented them from making their adolescent dream of following asceticism together come true. However, Gregory sometimes visited Basil and they would study together the Bible and works of Origen. Their work “Philokalia” is the result of this study.²

2. Asceticism – Quietism

The reputation Basil had gained for his ascetic life led to the foundation of several hermitages in the region, which were soon to turn into monasteries. Basil became the father of monasticism in Cappadocia and introduced the rules of monastic life in collaboration with Gregory. In Egypt Basil had become familiar with the two versions of asceticism, the anchorites and the cenobites, which did not satisfy him and therefore he established a new type of monastic life by combining the positive aspects of them.³

Basil, whose writings on asceticism greatly influenced eastern monasticism, was a fervent supporter of cenobitic life, although some researchers believe that he must have been influenced by the Syrian than the Egyptian monasteries he had visited.⁴ He believed that monasteries should support charities and provide children of both sexes with education. Western writers often called the Orthodox monks “Basileans” or “monks of the order of St Basil”, although Basil never actually established any monastic order and his works should not be compared with the Canon of St Benedict, the founder of western monasticism.⁵

In 360 Basil, a then anagnostes of the local church, attended the Synod of Constantinople along with Basil of Ankyra and Eustathios of Sebasteia. After bishop Dianios died in 362, the recently baptised Eusebios ascended the throne. As he was completely unprepared for his task, he needed help from the experienced Basil. Therefore, the new bishop ordained him a priest.

However, their relations were soon to deteriorate due to personal misunderstandings as the bishop was always in Basil’s shadow. Finally, a private incident led to their disagreement, while a schism came into view in Caesarea. The monks and the seculars demanded that Basil become a bishop. In order to avoid the schism, Basil went to his friend Gregory in Nazianzos and later to the monasteries of the Pontos.

The disagreement between Basil and Eusebios should be settled because the first was considered necessary and his absence had bad consequences for the ecclesiastical matters of Caesarea. In addition, there were also external dangers for the local religious administration: Emperor Valens (364-378), an Arian himself, who believed that his presence in Cappadocia would convert the local bishops to Arianism, was on his way to Caesarea. Basil was the only one who could mount resistance. Eusebios asked Gregory of Nazianzus to mediate so that the dispute would be settled. Basil returned to Caesarea and held a key position in the local ecclesiastical administration.

3. Charities and anti-Heretical Activities

The famine of 368-369 hit Cappadocia hard and Basil’s activity in that period actually saved the region. Basil sold a considerable part of his assets in order to offer free public meals to the afflicted and the poor, while his fervent homilies at church against the wealthy citizens led the latter to unlock their barns.⁶

Near Caesarea he built large public welfare institutions actually creating a whole city. A magnificent church with the archpriest’s residence and the priests’ houses were at the centre of the settlement. There was also a guest house, which provided the travellers with accommodation and medical care. Workshops and houses were built for the poor, while he also built an orphanage and a leper hospital.⁷ Basil was deeply interested in the fair imposition of taxes and struggled for relieving the clergy from taxation.⁸ His activities spread beyond his district and soon affected the entire Eastern Church.

Eusebios died in mid-370 and his successor should be selected. The monks and the seculars supported Basil, while Arians and a large number of bishops under Caesarea were against him. Basil was finally elected bishop with the help of the father of Gregory the Theologian and managed to restrain Arianism to Caesarea. In 371, Emperor Valens went in Asia Minor again, but Basil refused to see the Arian bishops under Ephippios, who were accompanying the emperor. The tough imperial delegate Modestus was the next to arrive in Caesarea, but the bishop did not yield to his threats.

Finally, on January 6, 375, on the Epiphany, Valens entered the basilica while Basil was officiating. After the end of the ceremony, Basil talked with Valens and made him change his mind: the emperor cancelled Basil’s exile and offered Cappadocia a considerable amount of money before he left.⁹ The bishop was free to govern his district and was soon enabled to ordain bishops in nearby districts beyond his jurisdiction.

But Basil’s health was irrevocably harmed due to asceticism. He died at the age of 49, on January 1, 379, on the day his memory is celebrated.

4. Ecclesiastical and Liturgical Reforms

Basil got into purging the Church of Cappadocia from incapable priests and in this way the priests under his governance set an example to the other districts. The bishop introduced extensive changes in ecclesiastical operation by imposing stricter order and discipline. He also introduced vigils and antiphonal chant. The most typical example is the Divine Service named after him and maintained until today. Three versions have survived: the Greek or Constantinopolitan, the Syrian and the Alexandrian.

5. Basil’s Attitude towards Theologian Disputes

Basil was in contact with Athanasios of Alexandria and Pope Damasus in Rome trying to join the Orthodox against Arianism. In this way he made enemies among the Arians and the Orthodox, who accused him of being recessive and arrogant. Basil referred to the third person of the Holy Trinity without calling it God, because he did not want to lose the semi-Arians, who believed that the Holy Spirit is equal to God-Father. Some would accuse Basil and Gregory of timidity and heretical attitude. But before he died, the most distinguished figure of that period, Athanasios, managed to prove Basil’s genuine faith and his correct way of supporting Orthodoxy.

Basil was mainly an empirical theologian and his interest in doctrinal issues was focused on settling disputes. His teachings on the Holy Trinity tried to eschew extremes and were aimed at approaching the two Orthodox sides rather than at permanently resolving an essential theological dilemma. Basil’s greatest contribution to the Orthodox dogma was the terminology he introduced concerning the triune nature of God, which was later adopted by the Church.

6. Œuvre

Most of his works are orations (24 homilies), writings on the dogma and letters. As mentioned above, he wrote “Philokalia” along with Gregory the Theologian, the discourse “On the Holy Spirit” a his famous oration “De legendis libris gentilium” (To the young ones, on how to take advantage of the Greek letters).¹⁰ He also wrote important ascetic and exegetic works. Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa expressed their opinions about the creation of the world and the way it goes on, trying in the “Hexaemeron” (Six days of Creation) to combine the Bible with the scientific achievements of his times. His last work was early translated into Slav languages and was widely spread over the Balkans and Russia.

7. Sanctification – Worship – Iconography

St Basil the Great is also celebrated on January 30 along with the memories of St Gregory the Theologian and the subsequent St John the Chrysostom. The feast of the Three Holy Hierarchs was adopted in the 11th century on the initiative of John Mauropous, the metropolitan of Euchaita. The Modern Greek state proclaimed the Three Hierarchs patrons of education in 1843 and established their celebration at schools.

St Basil is rarely depicted alone in the Christian painting tradition. The wall paintings show him along with St Gregory the Theologian and St John the Chrysostom. The 18th century painting interpretations describe Basil as “grey-haired, with a long beard and arched eyebrows, holding a piece of paper [a scroll] that reads ´No one who is bound by carnal desires is worthy’”.¹¹ His worship was spread by Greek monks to Italy, while it was particularly popular in Cappadocia until 1922.

* The main source for this entry is Християнство. Енциклопедический словарь 1 том. Под редакпией С. Аверинцева . Москва, 1993 (Hristijanstvto. Encyclopediceskij slovarj, 1 vol, ed. Averincev, Moskva 1993), pp. 339-341 (n.ed.)