Life of Saint Basil the Great
Saint Basil was a prominent figure of the Christian Church, Basil was a great hierarch and leading theologian, which is why he was proclaimed Saint and Great. He is one of the Fathers of the Church and one of the Three Hierarchs.
His memory is celebrated on January 1 by the Orthodox (January 14 by those who follow the Julian Calendar) and on January 2 by Catholics. His memory is commemorated on January 30, during the feast of the Three Hierarchs, together with the other two great Fathers of the Church, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom.
He was born in 330 in Caesarea, Cappadocia (now Kayseri, Turkey) and was the son of the Pontian orator (lawyer of the time) Basilios and Emmalia, whose memory is honored by the Orthodox Church together with her son. In the family besides Basil there were eight or nine other children. Among them, Gregory, the later great theologian, known as Gregory of Nyssa. His grandmother Macrina was the daughter of a Christian martyr and together with his mother Emmalias played an important role in shaping the Christian character of Basil.
After the circular lessons he took in his homeland, Basil was sent to Byzantium for wider studies. In 351 he went to Athens, where letters and the arts were still flourishing. He studied rhetoric, philosophy, astronomy, geometry, medicine, physics, etc. In Athens he met Julian, later emperor of Byzantium and later a great opponent of Christianity, and Gregory the Nazianzus, with whom he formed a sacred and lifelong friendship.
After his studies in Athens, he returned in 351 to Caesarea, where he practiced the profession of orator, like his father. Very quickly he began a spiritual journey to Egypt, Palestine, Mesopotamia and Syria, to meet ascetics and study monasticism. He was so fascinated by the strict ascetic life that he went to Pontus and lived as a monk in the desert for five years (357-362).
He intended to stay there permanently, if the death of the bishop of Caesarea, Eusebius, did not occur. The people of Caesarea asked for Basil to succeed him and after his election he was forced to return to Caesarea. He remained for nine years the bishop of Caesarea and left a great work, which was an example to be imitated for the following generations. He founded a series of charitable institutions, which became known as the “Vassiliada”, whose organization for the care of the poor and the sick was a model of spiritual giving and social action.
Basil was an indomitable soul in the face of any kind of secular authority. Once, the emperor Wales, who supported the Arians, sent him the commissioner Modestus. The imperial envoy threatened him with confiscation of his property, exile and martyrdom. Unfazed, Vasilios replied:
A few tattered clothes and a few books are all my property; therefore I fear no confiscation. I do not consider exile, because in this world I am a parepidemic. Nor do I fear martyrdom, because I regard death as a benefactor, because it will lead me more quickly to God.
Basil the Great was a prolific writer, with a decisive contribution to the formulation of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, while he also composed the Divine Liturgy (“Liturgy of Basil the Great”). His works are divided into doctrinal, anti-heretical, ascetic, practical, speeches and letters.
Throughout his short life he fought for the unity of the Christian Church, which was plagued in his time by theological disputes regarding the doctrines of Arius. He died on January 1, 379 at the age of 49 and was buried with great honors.