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

This did not, however, prevent him from devoting much of his vast energy to works of charity. Probably the great hospital for the housing and relief of travelers and the poor, which he established in the suburbs of Cæsarea, was planned—if not begun—in the later years of his time as a presbyter. Its size and importance were used as pretexts for denouncing him to Elias, the governor of Cappadocia, in 372, 1. Letter 94. and at the same period, the Emperor Valens contributed to its endowment. It was so extensive that it went by the name of "Newtown," 2. Greek: "the new city." See Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 43; compare Sir Thomas More's Utopia, Book II, Chapter 5. and was in later years known as the "Basileiad." 3. Sozomen, History of the Church, 6.34. It was the parent of other similar institutions in the rural districts of the province, each under a local bishop (a Chorepiscopus). 4. Letters 142, 143.

Whether this hospital for the poor (Ptochotrophium) 5. Greek: "poor-house." Letter 176. Professor Ramsay, in The Church and the Roman Empire, p. 464, notes that "the 'New City' of Basil seems to have caused the gradual concentration of the entire population of Cæsarea around the ecclesiastical center, and the abandonment of the old city. Modern Kaisari is situated between one and two miles from the site of the Greco-Roman city." was actually begun before Basil’s time as bishop or not, great demands were made upon his sympathy and energy by the severe drought and resulting famine that struck Cæsarea in 368. 6. For the date, compare Maran, Life of Basil, 9, section 5. He describes it with eloquence in his homily, On the Famine and Drought. 7. Section 2, page 63; compare Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 43, 340–342, and Gregory of Nyssa, Against Eunomius, 1, 306. The distress was cruel and widespread. The distance of Cæsarea from the coast increased the difficulty of supplying provisions. Speculators, scratching as it were at the wounds of their country, hoarded grain in the hope of selling at famine prices. Basil moved them to open their stores. He distributed food lavishly at his own expense 8. Gregory of Nyssa, Against Eunomius, 1, section 10, remarks of Basil: "Having spent his paternal inheritance without restraint on the poor, even before his priesthood, and especially during the time of the famine, when he was in charge of the church, and while still a member of the college of presbyters, and after that, not sparing even what was left." Maran (Life of Basil, 11, section 4), with the goal of proving that Basil had completely abandoned all property, says this must refer to a legacy from his mother. The terms used are consistent with the view already expressed (Section III). So in his Oration on Basil, Gregory speaks of Basil at the time as "selling his own possessions and buying provisions with the proceeds." and ministered in person to the needs of the sufferers. Gregory of Nazianzus 9. Oration 43. gives us a picture of his illustrious friend standing in the midst of a great crowd of men, women, and children—some scarcely able to breathe—of servants bringing in piles of food suitable for the weak state of the starving sufferers, and of Basil with his own hands distributing nourishment, while with his own voice he cheered and encouraged them.

About this time, Basil suffered a great loss in the death of his mother, 10. Gregory of Nyssa, Life of Macrina, 187; Letter 30. and sought solace in a visit to his friend Eusebius at Samosata. 11. Letter 34. But the cheering effect of his journey was lessened by the news, which greeted him upon his return, that the Arians had succeeded in placing one of their own number in the see of Tarsus. 12. Ibid. The loss of Silvanus was before long followed by a death of even greater moment to the Church: in the middle of 370, Eusebius died, breathing his last in the arms of Basil. 13. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 43.

VI. — BASIL AS ARCHBISHOP.

The archiepiscopal throne was now technically vacant. But the man who had practically filled it—"the keeper and tamer of the lion" 14. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 43, 33.—was still alive and at the height of his power. What course was he to follow? Was he to meekly withdraw, and perhaps be forced to support the candidacy of someone else—someone inferior? The indirect evidence 15. That is, the surviving reply to his urgent request that Gregory come to him (Gregory of Nazianzus, Letter 40). has seemed to some strong enough to conclude that he determined, if possible, to secure his election to the see. 16. Many historians and scholars, such as Fialon, De Broglie, Canon Venables, Böhringer, and Ullmann, have debated whether Basil acted out of holy necessity for the sake of the Nicene faith or whether he engaged in personal ambition to secure the position. Others, on the contrary, have thought him incapable of scheming for the nomination. 17. Maran and Ceillier argue that forming a political scheme to reach the episcopate was far from his thoughts. The truth probably lies between these two extremes. No intelligent observer of the situation in Cæsarea at the death of Eusebius—least of all the highly capable administrator of the province—could be blind to the fact that, of all possible competitors for the vacant throne, Basil himself was the ablest, most distinguished, and most likely to direct the course of events in the interests of orthodoxy. But it does not follow that Basil’s appeal for Gregory to come to him was a deliberate step to secure this end. He craved the support and counsel of his friend; but no one could have known better that Gregory the younger was not the man to take prompt action or rule events.