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

The year 357 may be reasonably accepted as the time of his baptism, and shortly after he was ordained Reader.1 It was about this time that he visited monastic settlements in Palestine, Mesopotamia, Cœle-Syria, and Egypt,2 though he was not so fortunate as to encounter the great Pope Athanasius.3 Probably during this tour, he began the friendship with Eusebius of Samosata that lasted so long.

To the same period, we may also refer his renunciation of his share of the family property.4 Maran dates this before the Syrian and Egyptian tour, a journey which can hardly have been accomplished without considerable expense. But, in truth, while desiring to do justice to the self-denial and unworldliness of St. Basil and other like-minded champions of the Faith, it must be observed that in Basil's case, this renunciation must be understood with some reasonable reservation. The great archbishop has been claimed as a "socialist," whatever that term may mean in our day.5 Yet St. Basil did not renounce all property himself, and he had a keen sense of property rights regarding his friends.6 From his letter written on behalf of his foster-brother, which Maran places during his time as a presbyter,7 it appears that this foster-brother, Dorotheus, was allowed a life tenancy of a house and farm on the family estate, with a certain number of slaves, on condition that Basil should be supported from the profits. Here we have landlord, tenant, rent, and unearned income. St. Basil can scarcely be cited as a practical apostle of the socialist theories of the late nineteenth century. However, ancient biographers of the great archbishop, anxious to present him as an ideal monk, foresaw that his property holdings might be used to object to the completeness of his renunciation of the world. To counterbalance this, they cited an anecdote related by Cassian.8 One day, a senator named Syncletius came to Basil to be admitted to his monastery, stating that he had renounced his property, except for a pittance to save himself from manual labor. "You have spoiled a senator," said Basil, "without making a monk." Basil's own letter suggests that he practically followed the example of, or set an example for, Syncletius.

Stimulated to carry out his purpose of embracing the ascetic life by what he saw of the monks and hermits during his travels, Basil first thought of establishing a monastery in the district of Tiberina.9 Here he would have been in the near neighborhood of Arianzus, the home of his friend Gregory. But the attractions of Tiberina were ultimately postponed in favor of Ibora, and Basil's place of retreat was fixed in the glen not far from his old home, separated from Annesi only by the river Iris, of which we have Basil's own picturesque description.10 Gregory declined to do more than pay a visit to Pontus, and so is said to have caused Basil much disappointment.11 It is characteristic of the imperious nature of a man with a stronger will that, while he would not give up the society of his own mother and sister to be near his friend, he complained of his friend for not making a similar sacrifice to be near him.12 Gregory13 good-humoredly replies to Basil's criticism of Tiberina by making a counter-attack on Caesarea and Annesi.

At the Pontic retreat, Basil began that system of hard ascetic discipline which eventually contributed to the weakening of his health and the shortening of his life. He complains again and again in his letters of the deplorable physical condition to which he was reduced, and he died at the age of fifty. It is a question whether a constitution better capable of sustaining the fatigue of long journeys—and a life prolonged beyond the Council of Constantinople—would have left a larger mark upon the history of the Church. There can be no doubt that in Basil's personal conflict with the decadent empire represented by Valens, his own cause was strengthened by his obvious superiority to the hopes and fears of common ambitions. He ate no more than was actually necessary for daily sustenance, and his fare was of the poorest. Even when he was archbishop, no meat was prepared in his kitchens.14 His wardrobe consisted of one undergarment and one outer garment.