Basil of Caesarea, better known as Basil the Great, was one of the most prominent theologians and bishops of the Eastern church from the generation following the Council of Nicaea. Although born about five years after that pivotal conference, the issues addressed there dominated his career as a teacher and defender of the Faith.
Born to a prominent Christian family in about AD 330, Basil was raised to be a man of faith. He was one of ten children, five of which are now considered saints. Basil and two of his brothers, St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Peter of Sebaste served the church as bishops. Another brother, St. Naucratius lived as a Christian hermit. His elder sister, St. Macrina the Younger became a much admired ascetic.1 It was his sister Macrina who appears to have had the greatest influence on the young Basil’s formation, encouraging him toward a life of piety and self-sacrifice. As a young man from a wealthy family, he received a very fine formal education, studying in Alexandria, Constantinople and Athens, where he became acquainted with St. Gregory of Nazianzus, a man would become one of his closest friends, and the future emperor Julian the Apostate with whom he also corresponded.2 Basil, like his father and many other prominent gentlemen, initially pursued a career as a rhetorician. It would not be long, however, until he abandoned that path for another destiny, that of a life dedicated to the service of God and of His Church.
We learn much about Basil from the more than 360 of his letters that have survived to our day, letters which give the reader a glimpse into the personality of the man himself, as well as into the political, social and theological milieu in which he lived and worked. The main picture that emerges of Basil is of a man of genuine piety, often afflicted with illness, but kind and with a good sense of humor, who was passionate about theology and about the well-being and unity of the Church. Many of his letters written during his tenure as bishop of Caesarea address conflicts among the clergy and the general struggle to re-establish unity among the churches during the ongoing crisis fueled by the continued rise of Arianism under Constantine’s successors.
But his correspondence also reveals a man who valued his relationship with his family, friends, and with his fellow bishops. His affection for his friends, especially Gregory of Nazianzus and Athanasius of Alexanderia, was profound, as was his love of his brothers, sister, and uncle (who was also an important bishop). We see, however, that just as in our relationships, Basil’s were not without conflict and sometimes estrangement. Over several letters, for example, he addresses a situation in which some rumor about him had reached the ears of his uncle (also a Gregory) associated with the Arian controversy and his handling of it in his parish, which caused his uncle to refuse to visit him or even to answer his letters; and in which his brother Gregory fabricated replies from the uncle to Basil in a good-hearted but wrong-headed attempt to smooth things out in the family.3 In Basil’s response to the situation one sees his love of family and his passion for Truth meet and embrace.
Although he composed homilies and other works dealing with a great number of subjects over his relatively brief episcopacy, as every pastor must, arguably his most important and famous work is his short book on the Holy Spirit. Whereas his friend and mentor, Athanasius, in On the Incarnation, defended and promoted the orthodox, catholic teaching concerning the person of Christ, Basil took the next step and produced one of the earliest and most profound treatments defending the divinity of the Holy Spirit and explaining His work. He took up his pen at the request of a fellow bishop, Amphilochios of Iconium, in response to a new twist in the ongoing Arian controversy.4 Some who had not fully accepted the language of Nicaea (among those now called Semi-Arians) had put forth opinions concerning the Holy Spirit that called into question His place in the Godhead. These became known as the Pneumatomachians–those who “fight against the Spirit.”Basil’s response is both eloquent and profound, his rhetoric firmly rooted in Holy Scripture.
He writes concerning the person of the Spirit, for example:
“…we are compelled to direct our thoughts on high, and to think of an intelligent being, boundless in power, of unlimited greatness, generous in goodness, whom time cannot measure. All things thirsting for holiness turn to Him; everything living in virtue never turns away from Him, He waters them with His life-giving breath and helps them reach their proper fulfillment. He perfects all other things, and Himself lacks nothing; He gives life to all things, and is never depleted. He does not increase by additions, but is always complete, self-established, and present everywhere. He is the source of sanctification, spiritual light, who gives illumination to everyone using His powers to search for the truth – and the illumination He gives is Himself. His nature is unapproachable; only through His goodness are we able to draw near it. He fills all things with His power, but only those who are worthy may share it. He distributes His energy in proportion to the faith of the recipient, not confining it to a single share. He is simple in being; His powers are manifold: they are wholly present everywhere and in everything. He is distributed but does not change. He is shared, yet remains whole. Consider the analogy of the sunbeam: each person upon whom its kindly light falls rejoices as if the sun existed for him alone, yet it illumines land and sea, and is master of the atmosphere. In the same way, the Spirit is given to each one who receives Him as if He were the possession of that person alone, yet He sends forth sufficient grace to fill all the universe.”5
Basil’s position was accepted at the ecumenical Council of Constantinople the year after his death, and became enshrined in the Creed as we have it today: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life… who with the Father and Son is worshipped and glorified…”
Basil’s other extant writings show him to be not only a brilliant proponent of the right theology of the Holy Spirit, but also an insightful thinker on a host of other subjects. Both his work on the days of creation and his On the Holy Spirit influenced St. Ambrose of Milan’s treatments of the same subjects.6 Concepts that are traditionally associated with St. Augustine, such as the cause and definition of evil, can be found in Basil’s homilies a generation earlier.7 His liturgy is still in use among Eastern Christians. His works on social justice, the proper use of wealth, and other issues of Christian life remain as relevant today as when they were composed more than sixteen centuries ago. There can be no doubt that Basil, who died from illness at the relatively young age of 49, is an author whose short career helped steer the course of the Church of his day, and whose work continues to anchor us today in the right understanding of God’s Word, as well as in pious, sometimes struggling, faithful living.
Endnotes
1. Johannes Quasten, Patrology, Volume 3: The Golden Age of Greek Patristic Literature From the Council of Nicaea to the Council of Chalcedon (The Newman Press, 1963), 204.
2. Quasten, 204.
3. Letters 58-60.
4. David Anderson, “Introduction,” in St. Basil the Great, On the Holy Spirit, Popular Patristics (Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1980), 7.
5. Basil, On the Holy Spirit, 43-44.
6. Jerome, Epistle 84:7. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001084.htm.
7. See e.g. Basil’s “Homily Explaining that God Is Not the Cause of Evil” in On the Human Condition, Popular Patristics (Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2005), 65-80.
