Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Vol. 8 (Basil: Letters and Select Works)

...dedication services, which lasted all night long and which are said to have sent his brother Gregory to sleep.Greg. Nyssa, Oration on the Forty Martyrs. Here, then, Basil was taught the basics of religion by his grandmotherEpistle 223. and by his father,Greg. Naz., Oration 43. in accordance with the teachings of the great Gregory the Wonder-worker.See Epistle 204 and note on p. 250. Here he learned the Catholic faith.

At an early age, he seems to have been sent to school at Cæsarea,i.e., the Cappadocian Cæsarea. Tillemont's theory that Cæsarea in Palestine was the scene of Basil’s early school life hardly deserves the careful refutation of Maran (Life of Basil i. 5). See Epistle 45, p. 148; and p. 145, note. Also see the note on p. 141 regarding possible contact between the boy Basil and the young princes Gallus and Julian during their seclusion at Macellum. The park and palace of Macellum (Ammianus Marcellinus, "estate") was near Mount Argæus and close to Cæsarea. If Basil and Julian ever studied the Bible together, it is more likely they did so at Macellum while the prince was still being educated as a Christian, rather than later in Athens, when his time in Nicomedia had resulted in his apostasy. See Maran, Life of Basil ii. 4. where he formed an acquaintance with an otherwise unknown Eusebius,Epistle 271. Hesychius,Epistle 64. and Gregory of Nazianzus,Greg. Naz. Oration 43. and conceived a boyish admiration for the archbishop Dianius.Epistle 51.

From Cæsarea, Basil went to Constantinople, where he studied rhetoric and philosophy with success. SocratesEcclesiastical History iv. 26. and SozomenEcclesiastical History vi. 17. say that he worked at Antioch under Libanius. It may be that both these writers have confused Basil of Cæsarea with the Basil to whom Chrysostom dedicated his On the Priesthood (De Sacerdotio), who was perhaps the Bishop of Raphanea who signed the creed of Constantinople.Maran, Life of Basil ii; Fabricius, Ed. Harles, vol. ix.

There is no evidence to support the idea that Basil of Cæsarea stayed at Antioch. Libanius was in Constantinople in 347,He does not seem to have been at Antioch until 353 (Dictionary of Christian Biography iii. 710), when Basil was at Athens. and Basil may have attended his lectures there.See the correspondence with Libanius, the authenticity of which has been questioned, in Letters 336–359. Letter 339 suggests a possibility of some study of Hebrew, but Basil always uses the Septuagint.

From Constantinople, the young Cappadocian student proceeded to Athens in 351. We have a vivid picture of a 4th-century university town in the writings of his friend,Greg. Naz., Oration 43, and the poem On His Own Life. which reminds us that the rough hazing of the modern undergraduate is a survival of a very ancient barbarism. The young men belonged to certain fraternities (phratriae)Greg., On His Own Life, 215. and would watch for the arrival of every new student in the city, hoping to attach him to the classes of one teacher or another. Kinsmen watched for kinsmen, and acquaintances for acquaintances; sometimes it was mere good-humored violence that secured the person of the freshman. The first step in this grotesque matriculation was a party; then, the guest of the day was led in a ceremonial procession through the marketplace to the entrance of the baths. There, they leaped around him with wild cries and refused him entry. Finally, they forced their way in with mock fury, and the initiate was made a member of the mysteries of the baths and the lecture halls. Gregory of Nazianzus, a student slightly older than Basil, succeeded in sparing him the ordeal of this initiation, and Basil's dignity and sweetness of character seem to have secured him immunity from rough treatment without losing him any popularity.A somewhat similar exemption is recorded of Dean Stanley at Rugby. At Athens, the two young Cappadocians were noted among their contemporaries for three things: their diligence and success in their work, their stainless and devout life, and their close mutual affection. Everything was common to them; they were as one soul. What formed the closest bond of union was their faith. God and their love of what is best made them one.Greg. Naz., Oration 43, 20–21; Poem 11, 221–235: "And that which brought us together above all else, was God and the desire for higher things." Ullman (Life of Gregory) quotes Cicero, On Friendship (De Amicitia), 25: "The strength of friendship is such that one soul is made from many." Himerius, a pagan, and Prohæresius, an Armenian Christian, are mentioned among the well-known professors whose classes Basil attended.Socrates 4.26 and Sozomen 6.17. Among his early friendships, possibly formed during his university career, Basil’s own letters name those with TerentiusEpistle 64. and Sophronius.Epistle 272.

If the Libanian correspondence is accepted as genuine, we may add Celsus, a pupil of Libanius, to the group.Epistle 306. But except for Basil’s affection for Gregory of Nazianzus, none of these intimacies are as significant as that which is recorded to have been formed between Basil and the young prince Julian.Greg. Naz., Oration 4, Epistles 39, 40, 41. One incident of his time in Athens, which led to bitter consequences in later days, was his brief communication with Apollinarius and a letter written "from layman to layman,"Epistle 224.2. which his opponents used as a handle for much malice, and perhaps for forgery. Julian arrived in Athens after the middle of the year 355.Ammianus Marcellinus 15.2, 8. "Permitted" is no doubt a euphemism for "forced." Basil’s departure and return to Cæsarea may therefore...