After the condemnation of Arius at the Council of Nicaea, many Arians and weak,
compromising Bishops feigned submission to the definition of the Divinity of Christ.
But they later attempted a subtle misinterpretation: the addition of a single letter ("i" – the Greek "iota")
was enough to change "one substance" (homoousios) to "similar substance" (homoiousios) –
meaning that the Son was similar, but not equal to the Father. This error – called "Semi-Arianism" by historians –
gave rise to the popular saying, it doesn't make one iota of difference.
It was an ironic saying,
for in St. Basil's time, it made all the difference in the world! A strange new heresy – called "Macedonianism" –
also resulted when some appeared to accept the Divinity of Christ, but insisted on denying the Divinity of the Holy Ghost.
This phenomenon – bishops submitting to a dogmatic definition, but later misinterpreting it – has been repeated throughout the history of the Church, particularly at the General Council of the Vatican ("Vatican I"). Even though that Council made very clear the meaning of every word of the dogmatic definition of Papal Infallibility, many – perhaps even most – of the bishops later misinterpreted it by seeking to limit its extension. Some even went so far as to claim that Popes have almost never taught infallibly! St. Basil gives us the example of uncompromising fidelity to the infallible teachings of Holy Mother Church.
The Doctors who form the fourfold glory of the Greek Church complete their sacred number in the liturgical cycle today. St. John Chrysostom was the first to greet us with his radiant light during Christmastide; the glorious Pasch saw the rise of two resplendent luminaries, St. Athanasius and St. Gregory Nazianzen; St. Basil the Great, having checked his effulgent blaze till now, illumines the reign of the Holy Ghost. He well deserves so distinguished a place, by reason of his eminent doctrine and brave combats, which prepared the way for the triumph of the divine Paraclete over the blasphemies of the impious sect of Macedonius, who used against the Third Person of the consubstantial Trinity the very arguments invented by Arius against the divinity of the Word. The Council of Constantinople, putting the finishing stroke to that of Nicaea, formulated the Faith of the Churches, in Him Who proceedeth from the Father, no less than doth the Word Himself, Who is adored and glorified conjointly with the Father and Son.
St. Basil was not there on the day of victory; prematurely exhausted by austerities and labors, he had been sleeping the sleep of peace for quite two years, when this great definition was promulgated. But it was his teaching that inspired the assembled Council; his word remains as the luminous expression of tradition concerning the Holy Ghost, Who is Himself the divine lodestone attracting all in the vast universe that aspire after holiness, the potent breeze uplifting souls, the perfection of all things. Just as we hearkened to St Gregory Nazianzen on his feast day, speaking magnificent truths concerning the great Paschal mystery, let us listen now to his illustrious friend, explaining that of the present Pentecost Season – sanctification effected in souls:
The union of the Holy Ghost and the soul is effected by estrangement from the passions,
which having crept in had separated her from God. Whoever, therefore, would disengage himself from the
deformity that proceeds from vice, and return to that beauty which he holds of his Creator; whoever would
restore within himself the primitive features of that royal and divine original – such a one verily draws
nigh unto the Paraclete… Wherefore it is that, properly and in very truth, by the illumination of the
Holy Ghost we contemplate the splendor of God's glory; yea, it is by the character of resemblance which
He has imprinted in our soul that we are raised up even unto the loftiness of Him, Whose full similitude He,
the Divine Seal, bears within Himself. He, the Spirit of wisdom, reveals unto us (not as it were outside,
but within Himself) Christ, the Wisdom of God. The path of contemplation leads from the Holy Ghost,
by the Son, unto the Father; concurrently, the goodness, holiness, and royal dignity of the elect
come from the Father by the Son to the Holy Ghost... But the carnal man, who has never exercised
his soul in contemplation, but holds her captive in the mud and mire of the senses, cannot lift
his eyes unto Light supernal; the Holy Ghost belongs not to him
(Lib. de Sp. Sanct.)
The action of the Paraclete surpasses the power of any creature; therefore, in thus drawing attention to the operation of the Spirit of Love, St. Basil is anxious to bring his adversaries to confess, of their own accord, the Divinity of the Holy Ghost. On the other hand, who can fail to recognize in this burning exposition of doctrine, not merely the invincible theologian vindicating dogma, but furthermore the experienced guide of souls, the sublime ascetic, deputed by God to bring down within reach of all men such marvels of holiness as a St. Anthony or a St. Pachomius brought forth in the desert?
According to a custom frequent in that century, owing to the fear entertained of exposing the grace of Baptism to woeful shipwreck, St. Basil remained a simple catechumen until his youth had wellnigh matured to manhood. Of the years that followed his Baptism, thirteen were spent in the monastic life and nine in the Episcopate. At the age of fifty he died; but his work, carried on under the impulse of the Holy Ghost, far from dying with him, appeared more fruitful, and went on increasing during the course of succeeding ages.
While living the life of a humble monk on the banks of the Iris, whither his mother and sister
had preceded him, his whole life was intent on the saving of his soul from the judgment of God, and on
running generously in the way that leads to the eternal recompense.
Later on others having begged
him to form them also unto the warfare of Christ the King,
according to the simplicity of faith and
the Scriptures, our Saint would not have them embrace the life of solitaries – such isolation being not
without danger for the many; but he preferred for them one that would join to the blissful contemplation
of the solitary the rampart and completeness of community life, wherein charity and humility are exercised
under the conduct of a superior, who, in his turn, deems himself the servant of all. Moreover he would admit
none into his monasteries without serious and prolonged trial, followed by a solemn engagement to persevere in this new life.
At the remembrance of what he had admired amongst the solitaries of Egypt and Syria, St. Basil compared himself and his disciples to children who would strive in a puny way to mimic strong men; or unto beginners faltering at the first difficulties of the rudiments and scarce yet even started on the path of true piety. Yet the day would come when the ancient giants of the wilderness, and the rugged legislators of the desert, would see their heroic customs and their monastic codes cede the place of honor to the familiar conferences, to the unprepared answers given by St. Basil to his monks in solution to their proposed difficulties, and to form them to the practice of the divine counsels. Before long the whole of the East ranged itself under his rule; whilst in the West St. Benedict called him his father (Rule, c. 73). His order, like a fruitful nursery of holy monks and virgins, bishops, doctors, and martyrs, has furnished Heaven with Saints.
A Family of Saints—Top Row (left to right): St.Emmelia (mother), St. Basil the Elder (father), St. Macrina the Elder (grandmother); Middle Row: St. Macrina the Younger (sister), St. Naukratios of Mount Nitria (brother); Bottom Row: St. Gregory of Nyssa (brother); St. Basil the Great; St. Peter of Sebaste (brother).
St. Basil too was the grandson of martyrs, the son and brother of Saints. His illustrious grandmother, St. Macrina the Elder, seems to have miraculously escaped from the hands of her executioners and from a seven years' exile in the wild forests, for the purpose of being instrumental in infusing into St. Basil's young heart that firm and pure faith, which she herself received from St. Gregory Thaumaturgus. Suffice it to say that, towards the close of his life, the great St. Basil, Doctor of the Church and Patriarch of monks, was proud to appeal to St. Macrina's name as a guarantee for the orthodoxy of his faith, when this was called into question.
St. Basil's lifetime was cast in one of those periods exceptionally disastrous to the Church,
when shipwrecks of faith are common, because darkness prevails to such an extent as to cast its shades even
over the children of light; a period, in fact, as St. Jerome expresses it, the astonished world woke up,
to bewail itself Arian
(Dial. cont. Lucif.) Bishops were faltering in essentials of true belief
and in questions of loyalty to the successor of St. Peter; so that the bewildered flock scarce knew whose
voice to follow – for many of their pastors, some through perfidy and some through weakness, had subscribed
at Rimini to the condemnation of the Faith of Nicaea. St. Basil himself was assuredly not one of those blind
watchmen: dumb dogs not able to bark (Is. 56: 10). When but a simple lector, he had not hesitated to
sound the alarm, by openly separating himself from his bishop, who had been caught in the meshes of the Arians.
(How differently did this Saint, and others like him, act in comparison with those in our own times, who will
not separate themselves from openly heretical clergy! He did not protest, as some of these weak souls do, that,
It's not my call.
) Now himself a Bishop, he boldly showed that he was not a blind watchman indeed.
For when entreated for the sake of peace to make some compromise with the Arians, vain was every supplication,
every menace of confiscation, exile, or death. He used no measured terms in treating with the prefect Modestus,
the tool of the Emperor Valens; and when this vaunting official complained that none had ever dared to address
him with such liberty, St. Basil intrepidly replied: Perhaps you never yet had to deal with a
(truly Catholic) bishop!
St. Basil, whose great soul was incapable of suspecting duplicity in another, was entrapped by the guile of a false monk, a hypocritical bishop, one Eustathius of Sebaste, who, by apparent austerity of life and other counterfeits, long captivated the friendship of the Saint. This unconscious error was permitted by God for the increase of His servant’s holiness; for it was destined to fill his declining days with utmost bitterness, and to draw down upon him the keenest trial possible to one of his mold – namely, that in consequence, several began to doubt of his own sincerity of faith.
St. Basil appealed from the tongue of calumny to the judgment of his brother Bishops (Ep. 203); yet he recoiled not from likewise justifying himself before the simple faithful. For he knew that the richest treasure of a church is the pastor's own surety of faith and his personal plenitude of doctrine. St. Athanasius, who had led the battles of the first half of that century and had conquered Arius, was no more; he had gone to join, the well-merited repose of eternity, his brave companions St. Eusebius of Vercelli and St. Hilary of Poitiers. In the midst of the confusion that Valens' persecution was then reproducing in the East, even holy men knew not how to weather the storm. Many such were to be seen adopting first the extreme measure of utter withdrawal, through mistaken excess of prudence; and then rushing into equally false steps of indiscreet zeal. St. Basil alone was of a build proportioned to the tempest. His noble heart, bruised in its most delicate feelings, had drunk the chalice to the dregs; but, strong in Him Who prayed the prayer of agony in Gethsemane, the trial crushed him not. With wearied soul and with a body wellnigh exhausted by the jading effects of chronic infirmities, already in fact a dying man, he nevertheless nerved himself up against death, and bravely faced the surging waves.
From this ship in distress,
as he termed the Eastern Church, dashing against every rock
amidst the dense fog,
his pressing appeal reached the ears of the Western Church, seated in peace in Her
unfailing light – reached Rome, whence alone help could come, yet whose wise slowness, on one occasion,
made him almost lose heart. While awaiting the intervention of the Successor of Peter, St. Basil prudently
repressed anything like untimely zeal, and, for the present, required of weak souls merely what was indispensable
in matters of Faith; just as under other circumstances, and with equal prudence, he had severely reproved his own
brother, St. Gregory of Nyssa, for suffering himself to be betrayed by simplicity into inconsiderate measures,
motivated indeed by a love of peace.
Peace is just what St. Basil desired as much as anybody: but the peace for which he would have
given his life could be only that true peace left to the Church by Our Lord. What he so rigorously exacted
on the grounds of Faith proceeded solely from his very love of peace. And therefore, as he himself tells us,
he absolutely refused to enter into communion with those narrow-minded men who dread nothing so much as a clear,
precise expression of dogma; in his eyes their captious formulas and ungraspable shiftings were but the action
of hypocrites, in whose company he would scorn to approach God’s altar. As to those merely misled, Let the
Faith of our fathers be proposed to them with all tenderness and charity; if they will assent thereunto,
let us receive them into our midst; in other cases, let us dwell with ourselves alone, regardless of numbers.
Let us keep aloof from equivocating souls, who are not possessed of that simplicity without guile,
indispensably required in the early days of the Gospel from all who would approach to the Faith.
The believers, so it is written, had but one heart and one soul (Acts 4: 32). Let those, therefore,
who would reproach us for not desiring pacification, mark well who are the real authors of the disturbance,
and so not point the question of reconciliation on our side any more
(Epist. 128).
In another place he continues: To every specious argument that would seem to counsel silence
on our part, we oppose this other – namely, that charity counts as nothing either her own proper interests or
the difficulties of the times. Even though no man is willing to follow our example, what then?
Are we ourselves, just for that, to let duty alone? In the fiery furnace the children of the
Babylonian captivity chanted their canticle to the Lord, without making any reckoning of the
multitude who set truth aside: they were quite sufficient for another, merely three as they were!
(Lib. de Sp. Sanct.)
He thus wrote to his monks, likewise pursued and vexed by a government that would not own
itself a persecutor: There are many honest men who, though they admit that you are being treated without
a shadow of justice, still will not grant that the sufferings you are enduring can quite deserve to be called
confessing the Faith; ah! it is by no means necessary to be a pagan in order to make martyrs!
The enemies we have nowadays detest us no less than did the idolaters; if they would deceive the crowd as to
the motive of their hatred, it is merely because they hope thereby to rob you of the glory that surrounded
confessors in bygone days. Be convinced of it; before the face of the just Judge, your confession is every
bit as real. So take heart! under every stroke renew yourselves in love; let your zeal gain strength every day,
knowing that in you are to be preserved the last remains of godliness which the Lord, at His return,
may find upon the earth. Trouble not yourselves about treacheries, nor whence they come: was it not the princes
among God's priests, the scribes and the ancients among His own, that plotted the snares wherein our Divine Master
suffered Himself to be caught? Heed not what the crowd may think, for a breath is sufficient to sway the crowd to
and fro, like the rippling wave. Even though only one were to be saved, as in the case of Lot out of Sodom,
it would not be lawful for him to deviate from the path of rectitude, merely because he finds that he is the
only one that is right. No; he must stand alone, unmoved, holding fast the hope in Jesus Christ
(Epist. 257).
St. Basil himself, from his bed of sickness, set an example to all. But what was the anguish of his soul
when he realized how scant a correspondence his efforts received among the leading men in his own diocese!
He sadly wondered at seeing how their ambition was in no wise quenched by the lamentable state of the Church;
how they still could listen to nothing but their own puny jealous susceptibilities, when the vessel was actually
foundering; and could contend for the command of the ship, when she was already sinking (Lib. de Sp. Sanct.)
Others there were, even among the better sort, who would hold aloof, hoping to be forgotten in their silent inertia;
quite ignoring that, when general interests are at stake, egotistic estrangement from the scene of struggle can never
save an individual, nor absolve him from the crime of treason. It is curious to hear our Saint himself relating the
following story to his friend St. Eusebius of Samosata (image left), the future martyr: how once St. Basil's
death was noised abroad, and consequently all the bishops hurried at once to Caesarea to choose a successor.
But,
Basil continues, as it pleased God that they should find me alive, I took this opportunity to speak
to them weighty words. Yet vainly; for while in my presence, they feared me and promised everything;
but scarce had they turned their backs, than they were just the same again
(Epist. 141).
In the meantime persecution was pursuing its course, and, sooner or later, the moment came for each
in turn to choose between outright heresy and banishment. Many, unfortunately, consummated their apostasy;
others, opening their eyes at last, took the road to exile, where they were able to meditate at leisure upon
the advantages of keeping out of the struggle; or better still, where they could repair their past weakness
by the heroism wherewith they would henceforth suffer for the Faith.
St. Basil's virtue held even his persecutors at bay; and God preserved him in such wondrous ways,
that at last he was almost the only one remaining at the head of his See, although he had really exposed himself
far more than anyone else to the brunt of every attack and to every peril. He profited hereby to the benefit
of his favored flock, upon whom he lavished the boon of highest teaching and wisest administration.
This he did with such marvelous success, that so much could scarcely have been attainable by another
Bishop in times of peace, when exclusive attention could be devoted to those employments.
Caesarea responded splendidly to his pastoral care. His word excited such avidity amongst all classes,
that the populace would hang upon his words, and await his arrival the livelong day, in the ever more and
more closely thronged edifice. The mutual understanding of pastor and flock in these meetings is quite delightful!
If the great orator by inadvertence left some verse of Scripture unexplained, his sons, by discreet signs and
half-suppressed mutterings, would recall his attention to the passage of the text, which they would not allow
him to pass over in silence. On such occasions St. Basil would make charming excuses for his mistake,
and then rectify it in such a way as to show that he was proud of his flock! When he was explaining,
for example, the magnificence of the great ocean, amongst other wonders of the works of the six days of creation,
he suddenly paused, and casting a glance of ineffable pleasure over the vast crowd closely pressing around his
episcopal chair, he thus continued: If the sea is beauteous, and in God’s sight worthy of goodly praise,
how far more beautiful is this immense assembly, whereof better than the waves that swell and roll and die away
against the coast, the mingled voices of men, women, and children bear unto God our swelling prayer.
O thou tranquil ocean, peaceful in thy mighty deep, because evil winds of heresy are impotent to rouse they waves!
(In Hexaem.)
Happy people, thus formed by St. Basil to the understanding of the Scriptures, especially of the Psalms,
whereof he inspired the faithful with so great love, that it was quite the custom for all to repair at night to the
house of God, there in the solemn accents of alternate psalmody to pour out their souls in one united homage.
Prayer in common was one of those fruits of his ministry which St. Basil, like a true monk, valued the most;
the importance he attached to it has made him one of the principal fathers of the Greek liturgy. Speak not to me,
he cries out, of private homes, of private assemblies. Adore the Lord in his holy court, saith the psalmist;
the adoration here called for is that which is paid not outside the church, but in the court,
the one only court of the Lord
(In Ps. 28).
Time and space would fail us, were we to attempt to follow our Saint through all the details of this grand family life which he lived so thoroughly with his whole people, and which formed his one consolation in the midst of his otherwise stormy career. It would behoove us to show how he made himself all to all, in gladness and in sorrow; with a simplicity which is so admirably blended in him with lofty greatness; how he would reply to the humblest consultations, just as though he had nothing more urgent on hand than to satisfy the demands of the least among his sons; how he would cry out against every touch of injustice offered to one of his flock, and how, with the aid of his faithful of Caesarea, rising up as one man to defend their Bishop, he would oppose himself as a strong rampart to protect virgins and widows against the brutal oppression of men in power. Though himself poor and stripped of all things since the day when, about to enter the monastic state, he had distributed the whole of his rich paternal inheritance among the poor, he nevertheless found the secret of how to raise, in his episcopal city, an immense establishment, an asylum ever open and admirably organized to meet the requirements of every kind of suffering and the needs of all ages; or rather, a new city, built beside the great Caesarea, and named by the gratitude of the people after its saintly founder. Ever ready for any combat, St. Basil intrepidly maintained his rights as exarch, which possessed by reason of his See, over the eleven Provinces composing the vast administrative division known to the Romans by the generic name of the diocese of Pontus. Indefatigable in his zeal for the sacred canons, he both defended his clergy against all attempts aimed at their immunities, and reformed such abuses as had crept in during times less troubled than his own. Even in the vortex of the storm, he knew how to bring back ecclesiastical discipline to the perfection of its best days.
At last the time came when the main interests of the Faith, the perils of which seemed, up to this, to have suspended in his worn-out body the law of all flesh, now no longer demanded his presence so absolutely as before. On August 9, 378, the arrow of the Goth exercised justice on Valens; soon afterwards, Gratian's edict recalled the exiled confessors, and Theodosius appeared in the East. On January 1, 379, St. Basil, at last set free, slept in the Lord.
The Greek Church celebrates the memory of this great Bishop on the day of his death,
conjointly with the Circumcision of the Word made Flesh; and a second time on the 30th of January,
She unites him with the two other Doctors – namely, Saints Gregory Nazianzen and John Chrysostom –
bringing all the magnificence of Her gorgeous Liturgy to give splendor to this grand solemnity,
illumined as it is by a triple sun, beaming glory concordantly to the Holy Trinity.
The Latin Church has chosen for Her celebration of St. Basil the day of his ordination, June 14.
The following is the notice She gives of his holy life in the Breviary:
St. Basil, a noble Cappadocian, studied profane letters at Athens in company with St. Gregory Nazianzen,
to whom he was united in a warm and tender friendship. He afterwards studied sacred science in a monastery,
where he quickly attained an eminent degree of excellence in doctrine and life, whereby he gained to himself
the surname of "the Great." He was called to Pontus to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
and brought back into the way of salvation that country which before had been wandering astray
from the rules of Christian discipline. He was afterwards made co-adjutor to Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea,
for the instructing of that city, and afterwards became his successor in the See. One of his greatest
labors was to maintain that the Son is consubstantial with the Father: and when the Emperor Valens, moved
to wrath against him, was minded to send him into exile, he was so vanquished by the miracles St. Basil worked,
that he was forced to forego his intention. (Image at right: Valens attempts to confront St. Basil during
Holy Mass.)
For the chair upon which Valens sat down in order to sign the decree of St. Basil's ejection from the city broke under him; and of the three pens which he took up, one after another, to sign the edict for banishment, none would take the ink; and when, nevertheless, he persisted in his intent to write the impious order, the muscles of his right hand became relaxed, and it trembled violently. Valens was so frightened by these miracles, that he tore the fatal document in two. During the night which was allowed to St. Basil to make up his mind, the wife of Valens was seized with excruciating intestinal pains, and his only son was taken seriously ill. These things alarmed Valens so much, that he acknowledged his wickedness, and sent for St. Basil, during whose visit the child began to get better. However, when Valens sent for some heretics to see his son, the child presently died.
The abstinence and continence of St. Basil were truly wonderful. He was content to wear nothing but a single garment. In observance of fasting he was most earnest, and so instant in prayer, that he oftentimes passed the whole night therein. His virginity he kept always unsullied. He built monasteries wherein he so adapted the institution of monasticism, that he exquisitely united for the monks the advantages of solitude and of action. He was the author of many learned writings, and, according to the testimony of St. Gregory Nazianzen, no one has ever composed more faithful and unctuous explanations of the Books of Holy Scripture. He died upon the Kalends of January; and as he had lived but by the spirit, there seemed to have remained naught to him of the body, save skin and bones.
To give thus a list of thy admirable works is in itself to sing thy praises, O mighty Pontiff! Would that nowadays thou hadst imitators; for history teaches us that Saints of a build like thine are those who cause an epoch to be really great and who save society. No matter how tried, how abandoned even, a people may apparently be, if only blessed with a ruler docile in all things, docile unto heroism, to the inspirations of the Holy Ghost ever abiding in holy Church, this people will assuredly weather the storm and conquer at last; whereas, if the salt lose its savor (Matt. 5: 13), society necessarily falls away, without the need of any Julian (the Apostate) or of any Valens to bring about its ruin. O St. Basil, do thou then obtain for our waning society leaders such as thou wert; may the astonishment of Modestus be justly renewed in these days; let prefects, Valens' successors, meet at the head of every church a Bishop in the full sense of the term as used by thee; then will their astonishment be for us a signal of victory; for a Bishop is never vanquished, even should he be exiled or put to death!
Whilst keeping up the pastors of the Church to the high standard of the state of perfection in which the sacred unction supposes them to be, lead the flock, likewise, to higher paths of sanctity. Not to monks alone is that word spoken: The kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17: 21). Thou hast taught us that the Kingdom of Heaven, that beatitude which can be ours already, is the contemplation, not indeed by clear and direct vision, but in that mirror whereof the Apostle speaks. How foolish is it to cultivate and feed in man naught but the senses that crave for the material alone, and to refuse to the spirit its own proper food and action! Does not the spirit urge of its own nature towards the higher regions for which it is created? If its flight be slow and heavy, the reason is that the senses, by prevailing, impede its ascent. Teach us, therefore, to furnish it more and more with increased faith and love, whereby it may become light and agile as the hart, to leap unto loftiest heights. Tell in our age, as thou didst formerly in thine, that forgotten truth – namely, how earnestness in maintaining an upright faith is no less necessary for this end than rectitude of life. Alas! how far have thy sons, for the greater part, forgotten that every true monk as well as every true Christian detests heresy, and all that savors thereof! Wherefore, dear Saint, bless all the more particularly those few whom such a continuity of trials has, as yet, failed to shake in their constancy; multiply conversions; hasten the happy day when the East, casting off the yoke of schism and Islam, may resume her former glorious place in the one fold of the one Shepherd.
O Doctor of the Holy Ghost, O defender of the Word, consubstantial with the Father,
grant that we, now prostrate at thy feet, may ever live to the glory of the Holy Trinity.
These are the words of thine own admirable formula, To be baptized in the Trinity,
to hold one's belief according to one's Baptism, to glorify God according to our Faith
–
such was the essential basis, set down by thee, for what a monk should be (Serm. de asc. disc.),
but is it not equally essential to a Christian? Would that all might thoroughly understand this!
Vouchsafe, dear Saint to bless us all.
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