Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. 8 (Augustine: Exposition on Psalms)

to mean not only place of birth but also place of residence and occupation.¹ Basil's parents had property and interests in both Pontus and Cappadocia, and were as likely to be in one as the other. The early statement of Gregory of Nazianzus is considered significant, as he speaks of Basil as a Cappadocian like himself before there was any reason for associating him with that province other than his birth.² Agreeing, therefore, with the reasons that suggest Caesarea as the birthplace, we may adopt the popular view of Basil as one of "The Three Cappadocians,"³ and congratulate Cappadocia on the Christian associations that have rescued her fair fame from the slur of the epigram describing her—along with Crete and Cilicia—as one of a "trinity of vileness."⁴ Basil's birth nearly coincides with the transfer of the imperial capital from Rome to Byzantium. He was born into a world where the victory already achieved by the Church had been officially recognized for sixteen years.⁵ He was born into a Church in which the first great Council had already given official expression to those core doctrines of the faith, the final and formal vindication of which would not be secured until after the struggles of the next 120 years. Rome, reduced civilly to the subordinate rank of a provincial city, paused before realizing the extent of her loss, waiting for the crowning outrage of the barbarian invasions before beginning serious efforts to reclaim, ecclesiastically, some of her lost imperial prestige. For a time, the center of ecclesiastical and theological interest would be in the East rather than the West.

II. — EDUCATION.

The place most closely connected with St. Basil's early years is neither Caesarea nor Neocaesarea, but an insignificant village not far from the latter, where he was raised by his admirable grandmother, Macrina.⁶ In this neighborhood, his family held considerable property, and here he later resided. The estate was at Annesi, on the river Iris (Jekil-Irmak),⁷ situated in a landscape of romantic beauty. Basil's own description⁸ of his retreat on the opposite side of the Iris matches the reference by Gregory of Nazianzus⁹ to the narrow glen among lofty mountains, which keeps it in shadow and darkness, while far below the river foams and roars in its narrow, precipitous bed.

There is some difficulty in interpreting Basil's statement in Letter CCXVI—that the house of his brother Peter, which he visited in 375, and which we may assume was on the family property (cf. Letter CX. § 1), was "not far from Neocaesarea." In fact, the Iris never winds closer to Neocaesarea than about twenty miles, and Turkhal is not at the closest point. However, this is a matter of scale. Relative to Caesarea, Basil's usual place of residence, Annesi is near Neocaesarea. An analogy would be a writer who usually resides in London stating that if he came to Sheffield, he would be not far from Doncaster.¹⁰

At Annesi, his mother Emmelia erected a chapel in honor of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, to which their relics were translated. It is possible that Basil was present at the

¹ Gregory of Nazianzus calls Basil a Cappadocian in Ep. vi., and speaks of them both belonging to the same patris (homeland). In his Homily In Gordium martyrem, Basil mentions the adornment of Caesarea as his own. In Epp. lxxvi. and xcvi., he calls Cappadocia his patris. In Ep. lxxiv., he calls Caesarea his patris. In Ep. li., it is unclear whether the Pontus from which he writes is his patris or if he is writing of Caesarea. In Ep. lxxxvii., it is apparently Pontus. Gregory of Nyssa (Orat. I. in xl. Mart.) calls Sebaste the patris of his forefathers, possibly because Sebaste was at one time under the jurisdiction of Cappadocia. Similarly, in the New Testament, patris is used for the place of our Lord's early life and upbringing.
² Maran, Vit. Bas. i.
³ Böhringer.
⁴ Kappadokes, Kretes, Kilikes, tria kappa kakista ("Cappadocians, Cretans, Cilicians, three wicked Ks"). On Basil's own estimate of the Cappadocian character, cf. p. 153, n.; also Isidore of Pelusium, i. Epp. 351, 352, 281.
⁵ The Edict of Milan was issued in 313.
⁶ Epp. cciv., ccx., ccxxiii.
⁷ Epp. iii., ccxxiii. The research of Prof. W. M. Ramsay allows the exact spot to be identified with approximate certainty. Guided by him, a pilgrim to the scenes of Basil's boyhood and early monastic labors might feel on firm ground. He refers to the description of St. Basil's hermitage by Gregory of Nazianzus in Ep. iv.—a description that, when compared with Basil's own in Ep. xiv.—"can hardly refer to any other spot than the rocky glen below Turkhal. Ibora," in which diocese Annesi was situated, "cannot be placed further down, because it is the frontier bishopric of Pontus towards Sebasteia, and further up there is no rocky glen until the territory of Comana is reached." Gregory of Nyssa, in his treatise on baptism (Migne, iii. 423 c), "speaks of Comana as a neighboring city. Tillemont, thinking the treatise was written at Nyssa, infers that Nyssa and Comana were near each other. The truth is that Gregory must have written his treatise at Annesi. We may therefore infer that the territory of Ibora adjoined that of Comana on the east and that of Sebasteia on the south, and touched the Iris from the boundary of Comana down to the point below Turkhal. The boundary was probably near Tokat, and Ibora itself may have been situated near Turkhal." Prof. W. M. Ramsay, Hist. Geog. of Asia Minor, p. 326.
⁸ Ep. xiv.
⁹ Greg. Naz., Ep. iv.
¹⁰ On the visits to Peter, Prof. W. M. Ramsay writes: "The first and more natural interpretation is that Peter lived at a place further up the Iris than Dazimon, in the direction of Neocaesarea. But on closer consideration it is obvious that, after the troubles in Dazimon, Basil went to take a holiday with his brother Peter, and therefore he did not necessarily continue his journey onward from Dazimon. The expression regarding the neighborhood to the district of Neocaesarea is doubtless only comparative. Basil's usual residence was at Caesarea. Moreover, as Ibora has now been placed, its territory probably touched that of Neocaesarea." Hist. Geog. of A.M. p. 328.