Section with the works of Basil the Great in Greek. Switching to other languages is also available at the top, above the list of works.
Feast days: January 1 (14), January 30 (February 12) (Synaxis of the Three Holy Hierarchs)
Biography
Birth, childhood, youth, and young years of the Hierarch
He was born in Cappadocia around 330 AD. He came from a noble, wealthy, and very pious family. His paternal grandmother, Macrina the Elder, was in her time a disciple of Gregory the Wonderworker. Her husband, the grandfather of Basil the Great, was also a zealous Christian. Both were renowned for their confession of the Lord. During times of persecution, they had to hide, endure many hardships, and forced sorrow.
Their son, Basil the Elder, the father of Basil the Great, was a recognized lawyer and also a teacher of rhetoric. He owned estates in Cappadocia, Pontus, and Lesser Armenia. From his marriage to a rare beauty, Emmelia, an orphan, the daughter of a martyr, who cherished chastity and virginity but married to avoid persistent advances from impious people, five daughters and four sons were born: Basil, Naucratius, Gregory, and Peter.
Naucratius died quite young, Gregory later became the renowned hierarch of Nyssa, and Peter became the Bishop of Sebaste. Their mother Emmelia, after the death of her beloved husband, devoted her life to the monastic struggle. Her daughter, Macrina the Younger, the sister of Basil the Great, also chose the monastic path.
Basil's childhood passed on his father's estate in Pontus. As an infant, he suffered a severe illness from which he recovered only by a miracle. His early views and behavior were shaped with the participation of his mother. But his grandmother, Macrina, played a special role in his upbringing. When the child grew older, his father took over his education. In particular, he taught his son Greek grammar and literature.
Basil received further education in Caesarea of Cappadocia. It was probably there that he first met the future hierarch Gregory the Theologian. After this, Basil studied in Constantinople, where he is believed to have met the famous sophist Livanius.
Finally, Basil went to the "center of enlightenment," Athens. There he expanded his knowledge of literature and philosophy, honed his skills in eloquence and oratory. It is said that besides this, Basil mastered astronomy and medicine. In Athens, Divine Providence brought him together again with Gregory the Theologian, who had arrived there somewhat earlier. Their joint stay nurtured and strengthened their friendship. Here Basil also met the future Emperor Julian, the persecutor and despoiler of the Church.
First steps of Basil the Great on the Christian path
Around 358, after almost five years in Athens, Basil returned to Caesarea. For some time, at the request of his fellow citizens, he taught rhetoric. During this period, he was baptized, possibly by the revered Bishop Dianius of Caesarea. Although Basil himself was baptized at such a mature age, he later pointed out the inappropriateness of delaying this event.
Soon, driven by curiosity and a desire to learn about the ascetic life, Basil set out on a journey through the lands of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. Here he became intimately acquainted with the ideals of the ascetics.
Upon his return, he distributed all his property to those in need, keeping only the necessary clothing for himself, and together with a few like-minded individuals, withdrew to a deserted place in Pontus. Living in seclusion, he engaged in physical labor, devoted himself to prayer, reading the Scriptures and the works of the Fathers, and ascetic struggles. Basil's usual food was bread and water. He slept on the ground. Soon his faithful companion Gregory the Theologian joined him. During this period, the friends compiled an anthology based on excerpts from the works of Origen—the "Philokalia."
The severe ascetic struggles and high moral life of the Christian hermits attracted many imitators and supporters who came and settled nearby. Basil took an active part in organizing the religious and moral life of the growing communities.
It must be said that Basil the Great's ideas about monasticism differed from the convictions prevalent among the ascetics of Egypt at that time. As is known, he preferred the cenobitic structure of monasteries, believing that this form of monasticism provided more opportunities for the realization of brotherly Christian love. At the request of the hermits, Basil compiled a necessary set of moral rules for them.
The dogmatic disputes troubling the Church also did not escape his attention. It is said that for the sake of assisting the Church, Basil could allow himself to leave his cherished refuge. Thus, in 360, he went together with Bishop Dianius, who by that time had ordained him as a reader, to Constantinople, for a Church Council.
The Ministry of Saint Basil the Great in the Rank of Presbyter
In 363 or 364, Eusebius of Caesarea, the successor of Dianius, invited Basil to Caesarea and ordained him to the priesthood. Initially, Basil objected, considering himself unworthy and grieving the necessity of losing the opportunity for the monastic solitude he had come to love.
The state of the Church at that time was tumultuous, if not to say: distressing. Greed among priests, simony, the triumph of heretical errors, intrigues, enmity—these are just a few of the difficulties Basil encountered in the course of his pastoral work.
Being an extraordinary personality, from now on he became an assistant to the bishop both in administrative matters and in the struggle for the purity of faith and morals among Christians. Subsequently, this provoked an unhealthy jealousy in the bishop, who was significantly inferior to Basil in eloquence and education, and a discord arose between them. Not wishing to aggravate an already complicated situation, Basil showed prudence and again withdrew into seclusion. Meanwhile, with the growing influence of Arianism, Basil considered it his duty to return. The discord was smoothed over and overcome.
In 368, during a famine caused by drought, Basil, through the power of pastoral exhortation, personal example, and authority, urged wealthy citizens to charity, persuaded them to open their granaries and share with those in need. The estate of Basil's mother, who had died by that time, which he had inherited by right, was also used to help the hungry.
The Hierarchical Activity of Saint Basil the Great
In 370, after the death of Eusebius, despite the disagreement and opposition from some laity and bishops, Basil the Great assumed the see. Emperor Valens, who declared himself a strict champion of Arianism, made great efforts to break the steadfastness of his opponents, including Hierarch Basil, who remained faithful to Orthodoxy. Orthodox people faced persecution, deprivation, and exile.
At this time, Cappadocia was divided into two provinces, which led to a reduction in the territory canonically governed by Orthodox pastors: one of its parts was headed, in religious terms, by the impious Bishop Anthimus of Tyana. In turn, the steadfast Basil did not cease to fight for the purity of the faith throughout the entire territory of Cappadocia and continued to appoint worthy bishops. In this regard, for example, the brother of Hierarch Basil, Gregory, was appointed bishop of Nyssa.
In addition to his ascetic and pastoral piety, the activity of Basil the Great was marked by the organization of aid to the poor, even though he himself, by his own will, was one of the poorest people. Among other things, the hierarch organized almshouses. For example, in Caesarea, he established a hospital and a hospice.
Basil the Great died on January 1, 379, a couple of years before the Second Ecumenical Council. He was mourned by almost the entire population of Caesarea. For his merits and the highest holiness of life, Basil was numbered by the Church among the saints and is honored with the name "the Great."
The Work of Hierarch Basil as a Church Writer
Throughout his literary journey, Basil the Great proved himself to be a writer of broad outlook and many theological directions. Among his works, writings of an ascetic and spiritual-moral, polemical and dogmatic nature stand out. A significant part of his creative works consists of homilies and letters. In addition, the Great Cappadocian is the author of many rules.
Unfortunately, not all of the hierarch's works have survived to this day. At the same time, a small number of works traditionally attributed to him raise doubts about their authenticity.
In his ascetic writings, Basil the Great examined and explored such themes as love for God and neighbor; questions about faith, sin, repentance; about truth and falsehood; about those who are tempted and those who tempt, about steadfastness in temptations; about poverty and wealth; about holding grudges; sorrow at the sight of a sinning brother; about God's gifts; God's judgment; joy from suffering for Christ; about sorrow for the dying; human glory; about children and parents, virgins and widows, soldiers, sovereigns, etc.
In the field of Orthodox dogma, the clearly formulated definition and distinction of the concepts "essence" and "hypostasis," necessary for the correct understanding of the dogma of the Holy Trinity, had and continues to have the utmost importance. He analyzed the teaching about the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit in his books against the heretic Eunomius and in his work "On the Holy Spirit."
The hierarch paid much attention to the Sacraments of the Church—Baptism and the Eucharist—and the question of the priesthood. One of the most important merits of the archpastor is the compilation of the order of the Divine Liturgy (see more: Liturgy).
Among the exegetical works of Basil the Great, the Homilies on the Hexaemeron, the Homilies on the Psalms, and the Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah stand out.