SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND WORKS OF SAINT BASIL.

I. LIFE.

I. — PARENTAGE AND BIRTH.

UNDER the persecution of the second Maximinus, Maximinus Daia, a Roman emperor who persecuted Christians. a Christian gentleman of good position and fair estate in Pontus, and Macrina his wife, suffered severe hardships. They escaped with their lives, and appear to have retained, or recovered, some of their property. Of their children, the names of only two have survived: Gregory and Basil. The former became bishop of one of the sees of Cappadocia. The latter acquired a high reputation in Pontus and the neighboring districts as an advocate of eminence and as a teacher of rhetoric. His character in the Church for integrity and piety stood very high. He married an orphaned noblewoman named Emmelia, whose father had suffered impoverishment and death for Christ’s sake, and who was herself a conspicuous example of high-minded and gentle Christian womanhood. Of this happy union were born ten children, five boys and five girls. One of the boys appears to have died in infancy, for on the death of the elder Basil, four sons and five daughters were left to share the considerable wealth which he left behind him. Of the nine survivors, the eldest was a daughter, named, after her grandmother, Macrina. The eldest of the sons was Basil, the second Naucratius, and the third Gregory. Peter, the youngest of the whole family, was born shortly before his father’s death. Of this remarkable group, the eldest is commemorated as Saint Macrina in the biography written by her brother Gregory. Naucratius died in early manhood, about the time of the ordination of Basil as reader. The three remaining brothers occupied respectively the sees of Cæsarea, Nyssa, and Sebasteia.

As to the date of St. Basil’s birth, opinions have varied between 316 and 330. The later date, which is supported by Garnier, Tillemont, Maran, Fessler, and Böhringer, may probably be accepted as approximately correct. It is true that Basil calls himself an old man in 374, but he was prematurely worn out with work and bad health, and wrote freely to his friends about his infirmities without concealment. There appears no reason to question the date 329 or 330.

Two cities, Cæsarea in Cappadocia and Neocæsarea in Pontus, have both been named as his birthplace. There must be some amount of uncertainty on this point, from the fact that no direct statement exists to clear it up, and that the word patris Original: "πατρίς" (native land or fatherland). was loosely employed.