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II. Dogmatic. 1. Five books against Eunomius.—Commended by Jerome (egregii libri ), Gregory Nazianzen, and Photius (ἐξαὶρετοι λόγοι). 2. On the Holy Spirit, addressed to Amphilochius and written at his request. 3. On Baptism, two books. 4. Homilies. III. Moral and Ascetic. 1. Homilies, against envy, drunkenness, anger, on fasting, etc. A very sensible admonition to a young man how to read the books of heathen writers with profit (Homil. 24), included among these homilies, has been frequently translated and separately published, among others by abp. Potter, 1694. Several homilies are in honour of local martyrs, St. Julitta, St. Barlaam, St. Mammas, etc. 2. On true Virginity, a treatise addressed to Letoius, bp. of Melitene, rejected by Garnier on internal evidence, but generally accepted. 3. Ascetic Writings.[1] including—(a) Prefatory Discourse; (b) Discourse on the Renunciation of Worldly Goods; (c) On the Ascetical Life; (d) On Faith; (e) On the Judgment of God, a prologue to the Ethics; (f) Ethics or Morals, under 80 heads, compiled from N.T.; (g) On the Monastic Institutions, including λόγος ἀσκητικός, and ὑποτύπωσις ἀσκήσεως; (h) The Greater Monastic Rules, ὅροι κατὰ πλάτον, 55 in number (in the form of Basil's answers to questions of his monks), with a proem; (i) The Lesser Rules, ὅροι κατὰ ἐπιτομήν, 313 in number, in the same form of question and answer; (k) Animadversions on Delinquent Monks and Nuns, a very early example of a Poenitentiale; (1) Monastic Constitutions, ἀσκητικαὶ διατάξεις, in 34 chapters. IV. Epistolary.—In addition to those just mentioned we have a collection of no fewer than 365 letters addressed by Basil to his private and official correspondents, including two attributed to the emperor Julian and twelve to Libanius (cf. F. Loofs, Eustathius von Sebaste und die Chronologie der Basilianischen Briefe, Halle, 1897). Excerpts from some Letters of Basil from papyrus MSS. were published by H. Landwehr: Greek MS. from Fayoum, 1884. V. Liturgical.—There is no reason to call in question the universal tradition of the East, that Basil was the composer of a liturgy. Those offices, however, which have come down to us under his name have been so largely interpolated at many different periods, that it is impossible to ascertain the correct text of the liturgy as drawn up by him. There are three chief editions of the Liturgy bearing Basil's name: (1) the Greek or Constantinopolitan, (2) the Syriac, translated into Latin by Masius, (3) the Alexandrian, found in Coptic, Greek, and Arabic, which versions concur in establishing one text. Of these, the Constantinopolitan furnishes the surest materials for ascertaining the genuine form. The standard edition is the Benedictine, pub. at Paris, 1721‒1730, by Julian Garnier, in 3 vols. fol., reprinted by Migne, Patr. Gk. |
vol. 29‒32. In Pitra's Analecta (Paris, 1888) some Fragmenta Ascetica and Epitimia, and in Psalmos were ascribed to Basil. An English translation of some selected works and letters and useful Prolegomena are given in Post-Nicene Fathers (Wace and Schaff) by W. Blomfield Jackson, 1895. A revised text of the treatise On the Holy Spirit with notes and intro. is pub. by the Clarendon Press. A cheap popular Life by R. T. Smith is pub. by S.P.C.K. in their Fathers for Eng. Readers.
[E.V.]
Basilius, the intimate friend of Chrysostom, with whom he resolved on the adoption of an ascetic life, and whose consecration to the episcopate he secured by a strange deception. His see is unknown, but was probably near Antioch.
[E.V.]
Basilius of Cilicia, presbyter of Antioch and bp. of Irenopolis in Cilicia, c. 500; the author of an Ecclesiastical History in three books, from A.D. 450 to the close of Justin's reign. Photius speaks disparagingly of it (Cod. 42). He also wrote a violent book against Joannes Scythopolitanus, and Photius (Cod. 107) says its object was to oppose the doctrine of the union of the two natures in Christ.
[E.V.]
Basilius, bp. of Seleucia, in Isauria, and metropolitan, succeeded Dexianus, who attended the council at Ephesus, and therefore after 431. He is erroneously identified by Photius with the early friend of Chrysostom, who must have been considerably his senior (Tillemont, xv. p. 340). He is very unfavourably known from the vacillation he displayed with regard to the condemnation of Eutyches. He took a leading part in the council at Constantinople in 448, at which Eutyches was condemned; and the next year, when the fidelity of the acts of the council was called in question, was one of the commission appointed to verify them (Labbe, Concil. vol. iv. 182, 230). But at the "Robbers' Synod" held at Ephesus a few months later his courage gave way, and he acquiesced in the rehabilitation of Eutyches, and retracted his obnoxious language. Before long he returned to orthodoxy, and in 450 affixed his signature to the famous Tome of pope Leo, on the Incarnation. At the council of Chalcedon, 451, the imperial commissioners proposed his deposition, together with that of other prelates who had aided in restoring Eutyches. But Basil submitted, concurred in the condemnation of Eutyches, and his offence was condoned (ib. 553, 604, 787). His extant works comprise 39 homilies (17 on O.T. and 22 on N.T. ), the titles and subjects being given by Fabricius, Bibl. Graec. lib. v. c. 19, 10. Four on John xi., published as his, prove to be the work of St. Chrysostom. A Homily on the Transfiguration was added to the series in the ed. of the Jesuit Dausqueius, in 1604. A prose work on The Life and Miracles of St. Thecla has been attributed to him; but not only does the style differ, and savour of a later age, but we learn from Photius that Basilius wrote St. Thecla's life in verse. Another supposititious work is the Demonstratio contra Judaeos, which appears in the Heidelberg ed. of 1596. Basil's homilies shew much oratorical power and skill in the use of figurative language. He does not lose |
- ↑ Sozomen informs us that in his day the ascetic writings commonly attributed to Basil were ascribed by some to his, at one time, friend and companion Eustathius of Sebaste.
