who was now admitted to the order of the priesthood, governed Eusebius.
During this temporary retirement from Cæsarea, Basil sought out for his followers a sequestered spot, where the foot of man had never trodden, and formed them into a community, with regular rules and canons. This was the origin of monastic discipline in the eastern church, as previously to this hermits and anchorites lived by themselves in solitary places; from this period we meet with monasteries in the neighbourhood of large cities, and from these regulations of Basil, the several constitutions of religious orders take their rise. While he was thus employed, the inhabitants of Neocæsarea wished to appoint him bishop, as successor to Musonius; but the Sabellian faction strongly opposed his election, and assailed his character with the charge of making innovations in matters of religion, the establishment of monasticism, and the introduction of a new mode of singing psalms. Such charges as these are a satisfactory testimony to his piety and zeal, as they show that his bitterest adversaries had nothing worse to bring against him.
From the peculiar position which Basil held at Cæsarea, we cannot be surprised to hear that Eusebius regarded him with jealousy. His instancy in the work of the ministry, and the reputation he enjoyed with the people, gave offence to the bishop, who felt himself but a novice. Basil found it, therefore, expedient to retire again to Pontus for a season, till the displeasure of Eusebius wore off. In 364 a semi-Arian synod was held at Lampsacus, a city on the Hellespont, with the proceedings of which Basil is connected, though he was not present. Some of the bishops who took part in the deliberations of this council, invited Basil to meet them at Eusinoe, as they were on their road to Lampsacus, that they might have his opinion on the matters which came under debate. In the year 368, a great dearth came over the whole country of Cappadocia, which excited the sympathies and called forth the energies of Basil to supply the necessities of those who were ready to perish. For this purpose he sold the possessions which he had received on the death of his mother; by his urgent appeals he prevailed upon the wealthy to give of their abundance, and then discharged the humblest offices in dealing out bread to the hungry.
On the death of Eusebius in 370, Basil was appointed his successor, chiefly through the weight and influence of the venerable prelate of Nazianzen, the father of his friend Gregory. His labours on attaining the archiepiscopal see were directed to the securing the peace of the church, which was disturbed not merely by Arianism, but by the violent expressions and indiscriminate language of some who maintained the orthodox faith. In his letters we have notices of many laws which he made for regulating social life, and for restraining unlawful marriages. In 372 Valens came to Cæsarea to carry out the design he had long formed, of bringing over the East to the reception of Arian tenets. Basil had already repelled the advances of Modestus the prefect, when he visited him with the same object, and attempted to draw him from the faith by promising him the emperor's assistance in the event of the see becoming vacant. The prefect expressed his surprise that Basil should presume to oppose the wishes of the emperor, when so many others had yielded to his will. To this the saint replied, that christianity was to be measured, not by dignity of persons, but by soundness of faith. When, too, he was assailed by threats, and the prospect of confiscation, exile, and death, his answer was, "He who has but a few books and a wretched garment, can suffer nothing from confiscation; banishment was nothing to one to whom all places were alike; and torture could not be inflicted where there was not a body to bear them. By putting me to death you would confer on me a benefit, for you would send me earlier to my rest." From the account which Modestus gave, Valens learnt that neither threats nor promises could avail with Basil, and having the generosity to admire virtue in an enemy, he commanded all rigorous proceedings to be stayed. On visiting Cæsarea, the emperor endeavoured to gain the good opinion of the archbishop by a devout attendance at public worship, though the Arian prelates warmly advocated the banishment of Basil. The cause of orthodoxy, as the story goes, was at this time supported by various signs and wonders. The Arian prelates had, as they thought, prevailed on the emperor to banish the archbishop. Every preparation was made, and the chariot was ready to convey him into exile; but when the warrant was brought for the emperor to sign, consternation seized upon his mind, and he tore the warrant in pieces. Galates, the emperor's son, was seized with a malignant fever, which abated as soon as the archbishop entered the house; but when the emperor would not adopt Basil's faith he attended no longer, and the Arian bishops were called in, but the child died. Nor was it only from the emperor that troubles came upon Basil; Eusebius, the governor of the province, and uncle to the empress, brought a scandalous charge against him respecting a lady of rank and fortune, who had taken sanctuary in his church. On this occasion the indignation of the people was roused in defence of their pastor, and the governor would have been torn in pieces by an irritated mob, if Basil had not devised means to pacify their wrath and divert their rage.
Many serious abuses had crept into the diocese, which Basil laboured to remove. As the officers of the church were exempt from the necessity of bearing arms, some sought for admission to the lower ranks of the ministry that they might avoid military service. The facility with which the chorepiscopi or suffragan bishops admitted candidates to the inferior orders of the ministry, on the testimony of presbyters and deacons without due examination and inquiry, opened a wide door for this abuse. It is painful to find that some of these suffragan bishops were charged with receiving money from applicants for ordination, and that they endeavoured to shelter themselves under the plea that the money was received after the imposition of hands. It would be tedious to relate how much Basil suffered from the strife of tongues, or how his own peace was disturbed by the dissensions which prevailed in other churches. The people of Antioch, harassed by persecution from the Arian party, and torn by intestine divisions, called forth a large measure of his sympathy. A lamentable account is given of their state in a letter drawn up by Meletius, the rightful bishop, subscribed by Basil and other prelates, wherein are details of public assemblies being dispersed, of heresy prosperous, of Arianism triumphant. This letter was directed to the bishops of Italy and France, appealing to them for sympathy, assistance, and advice. These, however, did not care to interfere; so that Basil complained of the pride and superciliousness of the West. Equally distressing was the charge brought by Eustathius against Basil, of unsoundness in the doctrine of tile Holy Trinity. The only ground for this was, that the archbishop did not uniformly adopt the same form of words in the doxology at the end of his sermons, and employed some novel expressions which were said to be inconsistent with orthodoxy. The outcry to which this report gave occasion, induced the patriarch frequently to preach on the doctrine of the Trinity, and to write his treatise "De Spiritu Sancto."
A coolness arose between Basil and his friend Gregory Nazianzen, which has been the subject of great misrepresentation. Gibbon states, that the first favour which Basil, after his elevation to the bishopric, "condescended to bestow on his friend was received, and perhaps was intended, as a cruel insult. Basil appointed his friend to the bishopric of Sasima, which is described as a wretched village, without water, without verdure, without society." It is clear that Gregory was not pleased with this sphere of labour; but there is no evidence to show that Basil intended in any way to cast a slight on the merits and services of his friend. The influence which Basil acquired was seen in the large sums placed at his disposal for the relief of the needy. With these he founded a magnificent hospital, called afterwards the Basileas, in which every description of human misery, including the unhappy class of lepers, received relief. There was one feature in this noble institution, for which it is worthy to be had in special remembrance. Spacious workshops were provided for every kind of handicraft, and all the inmates took part in supporting the institution of which they were members.
When Basil had occupied the see of Cæsarea a little more than eight years, his feeble frame gave symptoms of approaching dissolution. Before his departure, he collected his remaining strength, and ordained some of his disciples to succeed him in the see. When this was done, he breathed his last with the divine ejaculation, "Into thine hands I commend my spirit." The esteem in which he was held was evinced by the number that attended his funeral; Jews as well as gentiles took part in his obsequies, and mourned their loss. The date of his death is generally fixed at January 1, 379, at the age of fifty; but from the repeated instances in which Basil speaks of himself as advanced in years, we may reasonably give credit to those who refer his death to a later period. Saint Basil holds an eminent
