St. Basil The Great Influence

St. Basil the Great, the founder of communal monasticism and a famous teacher of rhetoric was born in Caesara, the capital of Cappadocia in the year 329. Basil came from a wealthy family who owned a considerable amount of land. His parents were St. Basil the Elder and St. Emmelia. Basil spent much of his childhood with his Grandmother, who gave him much knowledge and information, which ended up being a critical factor in his development. He started his education in Constanipole and finished it in Athens, where he met Gregory of Nazianzus who would soon become his close friend.

Basil started his career in Caesara as a rhetoric teacher, where he was very successful and spread his knowledge to many. After being baptized, he began studying ascetics

and monasticism in Palestine, Egypt, Syria and Mesopotamia. After not being satisfied with a solitary life, Basil felt drawn towards communal religious life. With a group of like-minded disciples, he created a monastic settlement in Annesi where they dedicated themselves to prayer and study. By 358, he had drawn even more disciples including his own brother Peter. Around this time, Basil also began to write about communal monasticism. These writings ended up becoming crucial to the monastic traditions of the Eastern Church. He eventually combined his ideas with those of Gregory of Nazianzus to write a group of texts called the Origen’s Philocalia.
“ In 363, Basil was persuaded to be ordained deacon and priest at Caesara.” When Eusebius, the archbishop become jealous of his success, he retired to Pontus to form new monasteries. Though, Caesarea did not allow Basil to leave for long as he joined Gregory of Nazianzus in his defense against the Arians of their faith, clergy and their churches. Basil and Gregory then agreed to rhetorical contests with Arian theologians and rhetoric teachers. They were very successful in these contests and emerged victorious. After his triumph with Gregory, a reconciliation was made between him and Eusebius. Basil became Eusebius’ right hand and aided him in ruling the Church. In 370, Eusebius died and Basil decided to succeed him as bishop on June 14, 370. With his new power, Basil created soup kitchens and distributed food to the needy who had been famished because of a drought. During his time as a bishop, he was very unselfish and sympathetic to those who were in need of help. Although he did not feel this same sympathy for those who committed sins and worked to reform thieves and prostitutes.
Soon, another challenge was put forth against Basil as the Emperor Valens, a believer in Arian philosophy sent his prefect Modestus to submit to him or at the very least compromise with the fast growing Arians. Basil negatively responded to Modestus’ request led him to say that no one ever spoke to him like that before. Upon hearing this Basil said “Perhaps you have never yet to deal with a bishop.” The returning Modestus believed that they should engage in battle with Basil but Valens was not interested in violence. Valens continued to attempt to banish Basil but failed in each one of his tries. After this, he gave up on his fight against Basil and even attended Mass on the feat of the Epiphany. Valens was so impressed after this Mass that he ended up donating land to Basil to help with the building of Basiliad. Before renouncing his claims, Valens created a rift between Basil and his longtime friend Gregory which, they eventually resolved.
In 378, Valens died in battle ending the reign of the Arians. Around the same time, Basil was on his deathbed. As a result of a long stomach illness, Basil died at the age of 49 on January 1, 379. On this day, a feast is still kept in the East to remember his various accomplishments. Gregory, who was greatly saddened by the death of his great friend stated that he looked forward to reuniting with Basil in heaven.
Overall, Basil made a lasting impact on society, which can be seen through his accomplishments in making monasticism an intellectual movement.

He opposed the solitary life, but rather wanted a more cenobitic, or communal way of life. Basil argued that cenobitic life was the best way to follow the will of God and that it is important to be surrounded by a loving community. Although these communities would remain small so the monks could create a personal relationship between one and another. He was not afraid to express his opinions to his fellow disciples and made monasticism a universal concept. Through his actions, Basil expressed his belief that one needs to be unselfish and detached from the satisfaction of the outside world to leave a peaceful life. Each one of the monks in his community were required to live in absolute poverty. To him, it was more important to start a new life, in which one would follow the will of God. “In the West, he is venerated as one of the Four Greek Doctors, in the East as the first of the Three Holy Hierarchies. As patriarch of Eastern monks, he has always enjoyed great fame in Russia, and is honored there as one of its patron saints.” He also defined the terms ousia (nature) and hypostasis (being, person). In all, St. Basil had a great influence on Christianity who will be remembered for the founding of communal monasticism and one who put himself before

others.