4th c.Documented
St Basil the Great
Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας
Cappadocian father whose letters on flight from heretical communion and on receiving those who return are marshalled throughout the study.
- Feast day
- 1 January
- Century
- 4th c.
- Region
- Caesarea in Cappadocia
- Rank
- Archbishop of Caesarea
Biography
Archbishop of Caesarea and defender of the Nicene faith against Arianism and against those who denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit, Basil organised monastic and charitable life and left an immense body of letters and canonical rulings.
The controversy
- Arianism and the Pneumatomachian denial of the Spirit's divinity; and the Meletian schism at Antioch, where questions of communion and reception were acute.
Position taken
- Firmness in the faith and caution in communion; his canonical epistles set terms for receiving those returning from heresy or schism.
Quotations
Each quotation carries its source and a verification status. Unverified items await checking against a cited edition; placeholders mark texts not yet inserted.
Church FatherStrongly supported
Δυσθήρατός ἐστιν ὁ τῆς ἀληθείας λόγος, ῥᾳδίως δυνάμενος ἐκφεύγειν τοὺς μὴ προσέχοντας.The word of truth is hard to catch: it can easily slip away from those who do not attend to it.
Church FatherUnverified
Verified quotation to be inserted after source review.
Related figures
Bibliography
- Migne, Patrologia Graeca 29 to 32.
- Y. Courtonne (ed.), Saint Basile, Lettres, 3 vols.
- The Canonical Epistles (188, 199, 217).