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

357, may be reasonably accepted, and shortly after his baptism he was ordained Reader.1. On the Holy Spirit, 24. On his growing seriousness of character, compare Letter 223. It was about this time that he visited monastic settlements in Palestine, Mesopotamia, Cœle-Syria, and Egypt,2. Letters 1 and 223, section 2. though he was not so fortunate as to encounter the great Pope Athanasius.3. Letter 80. Probably during this tour he began the friendship with Eusebius of Samosata which lasted so long.

To the same period we may also refer his renunciation of his share of the family property.4. Compare Letter 223, section 2; Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 43. Maran would appear to date this before the Syrian and Egyptian tour, a journey which can hardly have been accomplished without considerable expense. But, in truth, while one desires to do justice to the self-denial and unworldliness of St. Basil and other champions of the Faith who lived in a similar way, it cannot but be observed that, at all events in Basil’s case, the renunciation must be understood with some reasonable reservation. The great archbishop has been claimed as a “socialist,” whatever that term may mean today.5. For example, The New Party, 1894, pp. 82 and 83, quoting Basil, On Isaiah 1; Homily on that text of Luke: I will pull down my barns, section 7; and Homily to the Rich. But St. Basil did not renounce all property himself, and he had a keen sense of property rights regarding his friends.6. Letters 3, 36; compare Dr. Travers Smith, Basil, p. 33. From his letter on behalf of his foster-brother, Dorotheus—which Maran places during his time as a presbyter7. Letter 37.—it would appear that this foster-brother 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 out of the profits. Here we have a landlord, a tenant, rent, and unearned increment. St. Basil can scarcely be fairly cited as a practical apostle of some of the chapters of the socialist evangel of the end of the nineteenth century. However, ancient eulogists of the great archbishop, anxious to represent him as a model monk, anticipated that this might be urged as an objection to the completeness of his renunciation of the world. To counterbalance it, they cited an anecdote related by Cassian.8. Institutes 7.19; compare note on Cassian, vol. xi, p. 254 of this series. One day a senator named Syncletius came to Basil to be admitted to his monastery, stating that he had renounced his property, excepting only a small pittance to save him from manual labor. “You have spoiled a senator,” said Basil, “without making a monk.” Basil’s own letter suggests he was essentially following the example of, or setting an example for, Syncletius.

Stimulated to carry out his purpose of embracing the ascetic life by what he saw of the monks and solitaries during his travels, Basil first thought of establishing a monastery in the district of Tiberina.9. Letter 14, at the end. 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 to those 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 Iris River, of which we have Basil’s own picturesque description.10. Letter 14. Gregory declined to do more than pay a visit to Pontus, and so is said to have caused Basil much disappointment.11. Gregory of Nazianzus, Letter 1 or 43, section 25. It is characteristic of the imperious nature of a man with such a strong will that, while he would not give up the society of his own mother and sister in order to be near his friend, he complained of his friend’s not making a similar sacrifice in order to be near him.12. On the later difference between the friends at the time of Basil’s consecration, De Broglie remarks: “Thus, at every step, there showed itself that deep diversity of character which was sometimes to trouble, but more often to revive and tighten, the union of these two beautiful souls: Basil, born for the government of men and for the struggle, prompt and precise in his resolutions, embracing at a glance the goal to be pursued and walking straight toward it without worrying about the difficulties and the judgment of spectators; Gregory, afflicted with that delicate, somewhat sickly sensibility which is, in elite spirits, the source of poetic inspiration, sensitive to the slightest nuance of approval or blame, especially to the slightest wound to friendship, more finely alerted to obstacles, but also more easily discouraged, mixing in the pursuit of the greatest interests a concern perhaps excessive for his dignity and all the anxieties of a suffering heart.” The Church and the Roman Empire in the 4th Century, vol. 5, p. 89. Gregory13. Gregory of Nazianzus, Letter 2. good-humoredly replies to Basil’s depreciation of Tiberina with a counter-attack on Cæsarea 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 or would not 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 vulgar 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. Letter 41. His wardrobe consisted of one under-garment and one outer garment.