SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND WORKS OF SAINT BASIL.

I. LIFE.

I. — PARENTAGE AND BIRTH.

Under the persecution of the second Maximinus,¹ a Christian gentleman of good position and significant estate in Pontus,² and his wife Macrina, suffered severe hardships.³ They escaped with their lives and appear to have retained or recovered some of their property.⁴ Of their children, only two names have survived: Gregory⁵ and Basil.⁶ The former became a bishop of one of the sees of Cappadocia. The latter acquired a high reputation in Pontus and the neighboring districts as an eminent lawyer⁷ and a teacher of rhetoric. His reputation in the Church for integrity and piety was very high.⁸ He married an orphaned gentlewoman named Emmelia, whose father had suffered impoverishment and death for Christ's sake, and who was herself a shining example of high-minded and gentle Christian womanhood. From this happy union were born ten children,⁹ five boys and five girls. One of the boys appears to have died in infancy, for upon the death of the elder Basil, four sons and five daughters were left to share the considerable wealth he bequeathed to them.¹⁰ Of the nine survivors, the eldest was a daughter named Macrina, after her grandmother. The eldest of the sons was Basil, the second Naucratius, and the third Gregory. Peter, the youngest of the entire family, was born shortly before his father's death. Of this remarkable group, the eldest is honored as Saint Macrina in the biography written by her brother Gregory. Naucratius died in early manhood,¹¹ around the time of Basil's ordination as a reader. The three remaining brothers occupied the sees of Caesarea, Nyssa, and Sebasteia, respectively.

Opinions regarding the date of St. Basil's birth have varied between 316 and 330. The later date, supported by Garnier, Tillemont, Maran,¹² Fessler,¹³ and Böhringer, may be accepted as approximately correct.¹⁴ While it is true that Basil called himself an old man in 374,¹⁵ he was prematurely worn out by work and poor health, and he wrote to his friends freely and openly about his infirmities. There appears to be no reason to doubt the date of 329 or 330.

Both Caesarea in Cappadocia and Neocaesarea in Pontus have been cited as his birthplace. There remains some uncertainty on this point because no direct statement exists to settle it, and the word patris (homeland) was used loosely.

¹ Of those who suffered during this great struggle of heathenism to delay the official recognition of the Gospel's victory over the empire, the Reformed Calendar of the English Church preserves the memory of St. Blaise, Bishop of Sebasteia in Armenia, St. George, St. Agnes, St. Lucy, St. Margaret of Antioch, and St. Katharine of Alexandria.
² Greg. Naz., Or. xliii. (xx.). Note: References to the orations and letters of Gregory of Nazianzus are to the Ordo novus in Migne.
³ Id.
⁴ Greg. Nyss., Vit. Mac. 178, 191.
⁵ Bishop of an unknown see. Regarding the foolish duplicity of Gregory of Nyssa in fabricating a letter from him, see the mention in Epp. lviii., lix., lx.
⁶ Basileios, Basilius = royal or kingly. This was a common name. Fabricius catalogues "other Basils beyond 30," all of some fame. The derivation of Basileus (king) is uncertain. The root may be √BA, suggesting a leader who makes his followers march. For similar names, see Melchi and the compounds of Melech (e.g., Abimelech) in Scripture, and King, LeRoy, or Koenig among modern names.
⁷ Greg. Nyss., Vit. Mac. 392.
⁸ Greg. Naz., Or. xliii. (xx.).
⁹ Greg. Nyss., Vit. Mac. 186.
¹⁰ Ib. 181, 191.
¹¹ Greg. Nyss., Vit. Mac. 182.
¹² 329. Prudent Maran, the Benedictine editor of Basil, was a monk exiled for opposing the Bull Unigenitus. Died 1762.
¹³ "Born c. 330."
¹⁴ Gregory, known as of Nazianzus, was born during the episcopate of his father, Gregory, Bishop of Nazianzus. The elder Gregory died in 373, having held the see for 45 years. Therefore, the birth of the younger Gregory cannot be placed before 328, and Basil was slightly younger than his friend (Greg. Naz., Ep. xxxiii.). However, the assertion that Gregory was born during his father's episcopate has been contested. See D.C.B. ii. p. 748, and L. Montaut, Revue Critique on Greg. of N., 1878.
¹⁵ Ep. clxii.