Basil

Basil, surnamed THE GREAT, and called St Basil, one of the most eminent and eloquent of the Greek Fathers, was born about 329 at Cæsarea, in Cappadocia; studied under the heathen philosophers at Athens, where he began a lifelong friendship with Gregory Nazianzen, his later letters to whom are full of information about contemporary times; became an advocate in his native city, but afterwards founded a monastic society; was ordained a presbyter in 364; and succeeded Eusebius as Bishop of Cæsarea in 370, in which office he continued till his death in 379. He resolutely resisted invitations to the court of Julian the Apostate, with whom he had contracted an intimacy as a fellow-student at Athens, and displayed great constancy when the Emperor Valens began to persecute him on account of his opposition to Arianism. He was engaged in most of the controversies of his time, but conducted controversy in a gentle and generous manner. His rules of monastic life are still followed in the Greek and other oriental churches, in which he is highly honoured as one of the greatest of saints. In the Roman Catholic Church, also, they are followed in a few convents, styled of the order of Basilians. He is also the author of a revised liturgy, still in use in the East, known as the Liturgy of the Holy Basil; but his chief services to the church were in defence of the Nicene creed against the Arians. The best editions of his works are those of the Benedictines (3 vols. Par. 1739), and that of Migne in 4 vols. (29-32) of his Patrologia Græco-Latina (Par. 1866); but the authenticity of many of his moral and ascetic pieces is doubtful. His anniversary is celebrated, in the Greek Church, on the 1st of January—the day of his death; in the Latin Church, on the 14th of June—the day of his ordination.