Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/485

BASILIUS. nASriiIUS(Bao-<A€fosand Boo-jAjos), commonly called BASIL. 1. Bishop of Ancyra (a. d. .'}.)()- 3G0), originally a physician, was one of the chief leaders of the Semi-Arian party, and the founder of a sect of Arians which was named after him. He was held in high esteem by the emperor Con- stantius, and is praised for his piety and learning by Socrates and Sozomen. He was engaged in perpetual controversies both with the orthodox and with the ultra Arians. His chief opponent was Acacius, through whose influence Basil was de- posed by the synod of Constantinople (a. d, 360), and banished to Illyricum. He wrote against his predecessor Marcellus, and a work on Virginity. His works are lost. (Hieron. de Vir. Illust. 89 ; Epiphan. Haeres. Ixxiii. 1 ; Socrates, //. E. ii. 30, 42 ; Sozomen, H. E. ii. 43.) 2. Bishop of Caesareia in Cappadocia, com- monly called Basil the Great, was born a. d. 329, of a noble Christian family which had long been settled at Caesareia, and some members of which had suffered in the Maximinian persecution. His father, also named Basil, was an eminent advocate and teacher of rhetoric at Caesareia : his mother's name was Emmelia. He was brought up in the principles of the Christian faith partly by his pa- rents, but chiefly by his grandmother, Macrina, who resided at Neocaesareia in Pontus, and had been a hearer of Gregory Thaumaturgus, bishop of that city. His education was continued at Caesa- reia in Cappadocia, and then at ConsUintinople. Here, according to some accounts, or, according to others, at Antioch, he studied under Libanius. The statements of ancient writers on this matter are confused ; but we learn from a correspondence between Libanius and Basil, that they were ac- quainted when Basil was a young man. The genuineness of these letters has been doubted by Gamier, but on insufficient grounds. From Con- stantinople he proceeded to Athens, where he stu- died for four years (351-355 a. d.), chiefly under the sophists Himerius and Proaeresius. Among his fellow-students were the emperor Julian and Gre- gory Nazianzen. The latter, who was also a na- tive of Cappadocia, and had been Basil's school- fellow, now became, and remained throughout life, his most intimate friend. It is said, that he per- suaded Basil to remain at Athens when the latter was about to leave the place in disgust, and that the attachment and piety of the two friends be- came the talk of all the city. Basil's success in study was so great, that even before he reached Athens his fame had preceded him ; and in the schools of that city he was surpassed by no one, if we may believe his friend Gregory, in rhetoric, philosophy, and science. At the end of 355, he retunied to Caesareia in Cappadocia, where he be- gan to plead causes with great success. He soon, however, abandoned his profession, in order to de- vote himself to a religious life, having been urged to this course by the persuasions and example of his sister Macrina. The more he studied the Bible the more did he become convinced of the excellence of a life of poverty and seclusion from the world. About the year 357, he made a journey through Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, in order to become acquainted with the monastic life as practised in those countries. On his return from this journey (358), he retired to a mountain on the banks of the river Iris, near Neociesareia, and there lived as a recluse for thirteen years. On the opposite BASILIUS. 4G7 bank of the river was a small estate belonging li, his family, where his mother and sister, with some chosen companions, lived in religious seclusion from the world. Basil assembled round him a com- pany of monks, and was soon joined by his friend Gregory. Their time was spent in manual la- bour, in the religious exercises of singing, prayer, and watching, and more especially in the study of the Scriptures, with the comments of Chris- tian writers. Their favourite writer appears to have been Origen, from whose works they col- lected a body of extracts under the title of Philo- calia (<ptoKaia). Basil also composed a code of regulations for the monastic life. He wrote many letters of advice and consolation, and made journeys through Pontus for the purpose of extending mo- nasticism, which owed its establishment in central Asia mainly to his exertions. In the year 359, Basil was associated with his namesake of Ancyra and Eustathius of Sebaste in an embassy to Constantinople, in order to gain the emperor's confirmation of the decrees of the synod of Seleuceia, by which the Homoiousians had con- demned the Anomoians ; but he took only a silent part in the embassy. He had before this time, but how long we do not know, been appointed reader in the church at Caesareia by the bishop Dianius, and he had also received deacon's orders from Me- letius, bishop of Antioch. In the following year (360) Basil withdrew from Caesareia and returned to his monastery, because Dianius had subscribed the Arian confession of the synod of Ariminum. Here (361) he received a letter from the emperor Julian, containing an invitation to court, which Basil refused on account of the emperor's apostacy. Other letters followed ; and it is probable that Basil would have suffered martyrdom had it not been for Julian's sudden death. In the following year (362), Dianius, on his death bed, recalled Basil to Caesareia, and his successor Eusebius ordained him as a presbyter; but shortly afterwards (364), Eu- sebius deposed him, for some unknown reason. Basil retired once more to the wilderness, accom- panied by Gregory Nazianzen. Encouraged by this division, the Arians, who had acquired new strength from the accession of Valens, commenced an attack on the church at Caesareia. Basil had been their chief opponent there, having written a work against Eunomius ; and now his loss was so severely felt, that Eusebius, availing himself of the mediation of Gregory Nazianzen, recalled Basil to Caesareia, and, being himself but little of a theo- logian, entrusted to him almost the entire manage- ment of ecclesiastical affairs. (365.) Basil's learn- ing and eloquence, his zeal for the Catholic faith, and, above all, his conduct in a famine which hap- pened in Cappadocia (367, 368), when he devoted his whole fortune to relieve the sufferers, gained him such general popularity, that upon the death of Eusebius, in the year 370, he was chosen in his place bishop of Caesareia. In virtue of this office, he became also metropolitan of Caesareia and ex- arch of Pontus. He still retained hia monastic habit and his ascetic mode of life. The chief fea- tures of his administration were his care for the poor, for whom he built houses at Caesareia and the other cities in his province ; his restoration of church discipline ; his strictness in examining can- didates for orders ; his efforts for church union both in the East and West ; his defence of his authonty against Anthimus of Tyana, whose see was raised 2 u a