BASH.
332
BASIL
orously into the troublesome theological disputes
tlien rending tlie unity of Cliristendom. He drew
up a summarj- of the orthodox faith; he attacked
by word of mouth the heretics near at hand and wrote
tellingly against those afar. His correspondence
shows that he paid visits, sent messages, gave inter-
views, instructed, reproved, rebuked, threatened,
reproached, vmdertook the protection of nations,
cities, individuals great and small. There was very
little chance of opposing him successfully, for he
was a cool, persistent, fearless fighter in defence both
of tloctrine and of principles. His bold stand against
Valens parallels the meeting of Ambrose with
Theodosius. The emperor was dumbfounded at
the archbishop's calm indifference to his presence
and lus wishes. The incident, as iia: rated by Gregory
of Nazianzus, not only tells much concerning Basil's
character but throws a clear light on the type of
Christian bishop with which the emperors had to
deal and goes far to explain why Arianism, with the
court behind it, could make so little impression on
the ultimate history of Catholicism.
While assisting Eusebius in the care of his diocese, Basil had shown a marked interest in the poor and afflicted; that interest now displayed itself in the erection of a magnificent institution, the Ptocho- tropheion, or Basileiad, a house for the care of friendless strangers, the medical treatment of the sick poor, and the industrial training of the unskilled. Built in the suburbs, it attained such importance as to become practically the centre of a new city with the name of ii koii/t) ir6Xis or "Newtown' . It was the mother-house of like institutions erected in other dioceses and stood as a constant reminder to the rich of their privilege of spending wealth in a truly Christian way. It may be mentioned here that the social obligations of the wealthy were so plainlj' and forcibly preached by St. Basil that modern socialists have ventured to claim him as one of their own, though with no more foundation than would exist in the case of any other consistent teacher of the principles of Catholic ethics. The truth is that St. Basil was a practical lover of Christian poverty, and even in his exalted position preserved that simplicity in food and clothing and that austerity of life for which he had been remarked at his first renunciation of the world (Nitti, Catholic Socialism, New York, 1S9."). iii; Villemain, Tableau d'eloq. Chret., Paris, 1S91, 116 sqq.).
In the midst of his labours, Basil underwent suffering of many kinds. Athanasius died in 373 and the elder Gregory in 374, both of them leaving gaps ne\er to be filled. In 372 began the painful estrange- ment from Gregory of Nazianzus. Anthimus, Bishop of Tyana, became an open enemy, ApoUinaris "a cause of sorrow to the churches" (Ep. cclxiii), Eustathius of Sebaste a traitor to the Faith and a personal foe as well. Eusebius of Samosata was l)anished, Gregory of Nyssa condemned and deposed. When Emperor Valentinian died and the Arians recovered their influence, all Basil's efforts must have seemed in vain. His health was breaking, the Goths were at the door of the empire, Antioch was in schism, Rome doubted liis sincerity, the bishops refused to be brought together as he wished. (Duchesne, L'Eglise d'Orient, Paris, 1881.) "The notes of the church were obscured in his part of Christendom, and he had to fare on as best he might, — admiring, courting, yet coldly treated by the Latin world, desiring the friendship of Rome, yet wounded by her reserve, — suspected of heresy by Damasus, and accused by Jerome of pride" (Newman, The Church of the Fathers). Had he lived a little longer and attended the Council of Constantinople (381), he would have seen the death of its first president, his friend Meletius, and the forced resignation of its second, Gregory of Nazianzus. Basil died 1 Januarj-,
379. His death was regarded as a public bereave-
ment; Jews, pagans, and foreigners vied with his
own flock in doing him honour. The earlier Latin
martyrologies (Hieronymian and Bede) make no
mention of a feast of St. Basil. The first mention is
by Usuard and Ado who place it on 14 June, the
supposed date of Basil's consecration to the episcopate.
In the Greek "Mcntea" he is commemorated on
1 Januarj', the day of his death. In 1081, John,
Patriarch of Con.stantinople, in consequence of a
vision, established a feast in common honour of
St. Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, and John Chrysos-
tom, to be celebrated on 30 January. The Bol-
landists give an account of the origin of this feast;
they also record as worthy of note that no relics
of St. Basil are mentioned before the twelfth centurj',
at which time parts of his body, together with some
other very extraordinary relics were reputed to have
been brought to Bruges by a returning Crusader.
Baronius (c. 1599) gave to the Naples Oratory a
relic of St. Basil sent from Constantinople to the pope.
The BoUandists and Baronius print descriptions of
Basil's personal appearance and the former reproduce
two icons, the older copied from a codex presented
to Basil, Emperor of the East (877-886).
By common consent, Basil ranks among the greatest figures in church history and the rather e.xtravagant panegyric by Gregory of Nazianzus has been all but equalled by a host of other eulogists. Physically delicate and occupjing liis exalted po- sition but a few years, Basil did magnificent and enduring work in an age of more violent world con- vulsions than Christianity has since experienced. (Cf. Newman, The Church of the Fathers.) By personal virtue he attained distinction in an age of saints; and his purity, his monastic fervour, his stern simplicity, his friendship for the poor became traditional in the liistory of Christian asceticism. In fact, the impress of his genius was stamped in- delibly on the Oriental conception of religious life. In his hands the great metropolitan See of Ctesarea took shape as a sort of model of the Christian diocese; there was hardly any detail of episcopal activity in which he failed to mark out guiding lines and to give splendid example. Not the least of his glories is the fact that toward the officials of the State he maintained that fearless dignity and independence which later history has shown to be an indispensable condition of healthy life in the Catholic episcopate.
Some difficulty has arisen out of the correspondence of St. Basil with the Roman See. (Bossuet, "Gallia Orthodoxa", c. l.xv; Puller, "Primitive Saints and the See of Rome", London, 1900.) That he was in communion with the Western bishops and that he wrote repeatedly to Rome asking that steps be taken to assist the Eastern Church in her struggle with schismatics and heretics is undoubted; but the disappointing result of liis appeals drew from liira certain words which require explanation. Evidently he was deeply chagrined that Pope Damasus on the one hand hesitated to condemn Marccllus and the Eustathians, and on the other preferred Paulinus to Meletius in whose right to the See of Antioch St. Basil most firmly believed. At the best it must be admitted that St. Basil criticized the pope freely in a private letter to Eusebius of Samosata (Ep. ccx.xxix) and that he was indignant as well as hurt at the failure of his attempt to obtain help from the West. Later on, however, he must have recognized that in some respects he had been hasty; in any event, his strong emphasis of the influence which the Roman See could exercise over the Eastern bishops, and his abstaining from a charge of anything like usurpation are great facts that stand out obviously in the storj- of the disagreement. With regard to the question of his association with the Semi-Arians, Philostorgius speaks of him as championing the Semi-Arian cause.
