Basil, Saint

BASIL, Saint. - Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, born there around 330 and died in 379, doctor of the Church.

The sources for knowledge of the life and work of St. B., singularly abundant, are first of all his own writings, especially the letters; furthermore, the funeral oration composed in his praise by St. Gregory of Nazianzus (PG 36, 496-606) and other writings of the same; a eulogy was also left by St. Ephrem (Assemani, Opp. S. Ephr., II, 289-90); and by St. Gregory of Nyssa, brother of B. (PG 46, 787-818), who speaks of him also in various other places. St. Jerome lists some of his works in the De viris illustribus, 116; and since B. had so great a part in the history of the Church, the ecclesiastical historians Philostorgius, Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, and Rufinus make mention of him.

I. LIFE

He was born of Basil, a wealthy landowner, rhetorician and lawyer, from a family in which the Christian faith was a deeply rooted and glorious tradition, and of the virtuous Emmelia. His paternal grandmother, Macrina, fondly recalled St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, of whom she had been a fervent disciple. He had five brothers, among them Gregory, later bishop of Nyssa, and Peter, bishop of Sebaste, and five sisters, of whom only the firstborn, Macrina, is known to us. Having completed his early studies under the guidance of his father, who in the meantime seems to have moved near Neocaesarea in Pontus, he continued them later at Caesarea, at Constantinople, and finally for four or five years at Athens, which was still the cultural capital of the Hellenic and pagan world, where among others the famous rhetoricians Himerius and Prohaeresius taught. There he met St. Gregory Nazianzen, with whom he formed an intimate friendship. On his return to his homeland, around 356, he accepted a teaching post in rhetoric and for some time cherished dreams of glory; then, above all through the exhortations of his sister Macrina, he decided to devote himself to the ascetic life. He probably received Baptism only then, delayed according to a widespread custom of the time, and in 357-58 undertook a journey through Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and Mesopotamia, with the intention of studying the life of the monks there; then he too withdrew into solitude on the banks of the Iris, near Neocaesarea, where he was soon joined by his friend Gregory of Nazianzus and a community was formed. After 5 years he was induced by the bishop of Caesarea, Eusebius, to receive priestly ordination and to assist him in the ministry; but when disagreements arose, perhaps because of jealousy on the latter's part—elected bishop while still a catechumen, without theological or practical preparation—he preferred, in order to avoid divisions among the clergy, to return to the solitary life. Then, when under Valens orthodoxy seemed in danger, the good offices of Gregory Nazianzen obtained the return of his friend to Caesarea, where he resumed working alongside Eusebius himself for the maintenance of the true faith and for the regulation of the liturgy, exerting himself to alleviate the calamities of a terrifying famine that afflicted Cappadocia in 368.

When Eusebius died in 370, B. was elected, not without opposition, to succeed him in that metropolitan see which is said to have then counted about fifty suffragan sees. Meanwhile the Arian persecution was raging; Valens, who had made a brief appearance at Caesarea in 365, returned there in 371 or 372 and made repeated attempts to induce B. to make concessions; he did not, however, dare to resort to violence against him. Other conflicts came to B. from the claims of Anthimus, bishop of Tyana, who, when Valens divided Cappadocia into two provinces, usurped the rights of metropolitan over the dioceses of Cappadocia Secunda, of which his see became the administrative capital; and he also clashed with his close friend Gregory Nazianzen, whom he had made bishop of the small town of Sasima, disputed by Anthimus. Alongside his work of vigilance, instruction, and struggle for Nicene orthodoxy, B. gave extraordinary development to charitable work, organizing hospices for the assistance of the various categories of the needy in the individual local districts administered by a chorepiscopus and above all in the capital of the diocese, where through his work there arose almost a second Caesarea, a city of charity, which the people called Basiliad. B.'s work also extended beyond the territory of his jurisdiction, as when in 372, on assignment from Valens, he went to Armenia to provide for the episcopal sees vacant there.

He played a part of primary importance in the relations of the Eastern episcopate with that of the West regarding the struggle against Arianism and the particular questions connected with it, such as the schism of Antioch. In 371 he sent the deacon Dorotheus to Rome with a memorial in which he set before Pope Damasus the pitiable condition of the Eastern Churches, requesting the sending of envoys who might restore unity there; later B. and other colleagues of his invoked the visit of the same Western bishops and begged them to obtain the intervention of the emperor Valentinian, well disposed toward the Catholics, with his brother Valens. The action of the Western bishops, especially of Damasus, seemed too slow and ineffective to B., who complained bitterly about it; in the question of Antioch, moreover, he was disgusted by the Westerners' favor toward the bishop Paulinus, while the East supported Meletius. Later relations returned to cordiality. B. died on January 1, 379, comforted by having seen the victory of orthodoxy taking shape through the accession to the throne of Theodosius, after having lavished, in his not-long life worn away by penances and troubled by painful infirmities, the magnificent resources of intelligence, heart, and practical wisdom in a multifaceted activity for his diocese and for the universal Church, as defender of the faith and of Catholic unity, as preacher and pastor, as legislator of the monaastic life, as a promoter and organizer of charity,
earning from his contemporaries and from posterity the title
of "the Great." Feast on June 14.

II. WORKS

A man nourished by long studies and assiduous contemplation, called by Providence to an unceasing activity of government for which he was by nature wonderfully endowed, B. left in his writings the sober documents of his culture, but, above all, of his interior life and of his intense pastoral activity. All his works are occasional, composed to satisfy immediate practical needs.

In collaboration with St. Gregory Nazianzen he composed, in the solitude of Pontus (358-59), the Philocalia, an anthology of Origenian passages, which has not come down to us. Of the Orations we have two groups of exegetical subject matter: the 9 homilies on the Hexaemeron and the 13 on the Psalms. In the former (PG 29, 3-208), delivered during a week of Lent, he comments on the work of creation up to and including the fifth day. We do not know for what reason B. did not also explain the creation of man. The orator relies on the literal sense of Scripture, without neglecting allegory, demonstrating a ready sensitivity to the needs and tastes of his audience; there abound, suggested by the subject itself, examples and similitudes drawn from nature and directed to moral teaching, which is the dominant purpose. B. commented on Psalms 1, 7, 14, 28, 29, 32, 33, 44, 45, 48, 49, 59, 61, 114 (PG 29, 209-494), dedicating a homily to each, always with a predominantly moral intent. There are 24 other homilies (PG 31, 163-618), not all certainly authentic; they are of exegetical subject matter (the 12th on the beginning of Proverbs and the 16th on the words "In principio erat Verbum"); dogmatic-apologetic (the 9th, God is not the author of evils, the 35th on faith, the 24th against the Sabellians, Arius and the Anomoeans); encomiastic (the 5th in honor of St. Julitta, the 17th on St. Barlaam, held to be spurious, the 18th on St. Gordius, the 19th on the Forty of Sebaste, the 23rd on St. Mamas). But the moral intent predominates, whether he exhorts to fasting (1st, 2nd [disputed]), or to self-knowledge (3rd), or to thanksgiving (4th), or calls the rich to consider the vanity of riches and the duty of almsgiving (6th, 7th, 8th, 21st), or censures anger (10th), or envy (11th), or drunkenness (14th), or the abuse of postponing Baptism (13th), or recommends humility (20th). Particularly fortunate is the 22nd homily, in reality a short treatise, in which young men are taught in what way they may read pagan books with profit. B. may be called the founder of Christian preaching also as a literary work. He knows how to profit from his vast culture and careful rhetorical training: but from his discourses there always emerges in the foreground the figure of the pastor who never loses sight of the needs of souls and, with profound insight into the psychology of the crowd, presents Christian doctrine and morality in the most suitable form.

B.'s properly theological output is not abundant, though he was one of the most illustrious champions of orthodoxy against Arianism: either he lacked the time, absorbed as he was by practical activity, or he did not feel much attraction and lacked confidence in the usefulness of controversy. Between 363 and 365 he wrote the Refutatio Apologetici impii Eunomii, in three books (PG 29, 497-670), against the bishop of Cyzicus who had carried Arianism to the extreme consequences of a pure rationalism. B. reports the most important passages of his opponent and refutes them with dialectical vigor and apostolic zeal, expounding in the first book above all the concept of "unbegotten being: ἀγεννησία," demonstrating in the second the consubstantiality of the Son and in the third that of the Holy Spirit. The book De Spiritu Sancto (PG 32, 67-218), written in 374, is a response to the accusations brought against him of being hesitant regarding the divinity of the third Person. The treatise therefore has the character of dogmatic exposition and personal apology.

Under the title of Ascetic Works a collection of writings has come down to us (PG 31, 619-1428), not all certainly Basilian. Its central part consists of the Moralia, 80 moral rules, each divided into several chapters, demonstrated with passages from the New Testament, and two works that are connected with B.'s activity as a reformer of monasticism. They are collections of instructions on the religious life, in the form of answers to questions, arranged without logical order. The first, Regulae fusius tractatae, was composed in the solitude of Pontus and comprises 55 numbers that treat of the general duties of the monk; the second, written later, consists of 313 Regulae brevius tractatae, developing a kind of casuistry of the monastic life. Norms of ascetic life are then found scattered in the orations and in many letters. The Epistolary comprises 366 letters (PG 32, 219-1112), among which some are spurious or doubtful and others addressed to him, which the Maurist editors divided into three classes according to chronological order: letters written before the episcopate, during the episcopate, of uncertain date. They treat of dogma and ecclesiastical discipline, of particular needs and interests of the Church, or else contain exhortations to repentance or counsels of spiritual life; others fall within the genre of the consolatio for the death of dear ones, or else express the sentiments of friendship, recommending to various personages the needs of those who appealed to the bishop.

As regards form, it naturally varies according to the character, the purpose and the recipient of the writing; but, in the letters even more than in the discourses, B. shows his qualities as an expert and careful writer. He uses an elegant and pure language, regulated by the norms of the dominant Atticism, nor does he ever belie that rhetorical training to which he had devoted himself with serious commitment and which shows its influence so effectively on the Christian writers of the 4th century. It is in this period that the Second Sophistic enters with all its resources into Christian literature. But, while observing, in the arrangement of the material, in the choice of arguments, in the use of figures, in the search for sound effects, the precepts learned at school, B. never sacrifices thought to form and constantly tends toward his practical goal with straightforwardness and vigor. More sober than his friend and fellow disciple Gregory of Nazianzus, while he knows how to vary the tone according to circumstances, he keeps to a simple language accessible to the people, enlivening his exposition with a variety of pictures, with an abundance of anecdotes, with vividness of descriptions, with vibrations of sincere feeling.

Alongside the works mentioned above, whose authenticity, apart from some reservations already expressed, is guaranteed by the testimonies and by internal arguments, others have come down to us under the name of B., either spurious or of doubtful authenticity. The 4th and 5th books of Adversus Eunomium (PG 20, 671-774) have as their author Didymus the Blind. The book De virginitate (PG 30, 669-810) is today attributed to Basil of Ancyra. Certain letters are not by B., among them the correspondence with Apollinaris (nos. 361-64; PG 32, 1101-1108). The three sermons prefixed to the Moralia and the two that precede the Regulae are controversial, because unknown to Photius; the Poenae and the Constitutiones asceticae, which close the group of ascetic works, are generally held to be apocryphal. In the Enarratio in prophetam Isaiam (PG 30, 117-668) some see the notes of a series of conferences held by B. in 374-75, while others attribute it to an unknown almost contemporary author, and for others there is only a small Basilian nucleus upon which compositions of other writers were superimposed. The correspondence with Libanius (nos. 335-59; PG 32, 1077-1100), already considered supposititious by the Maurists, is held to be authentic by others. For the Liturgy (PG 31, 1629-56) which bears the name of St. B. and is still used on ten days of the year in the Greek Church, it is difficult to distinguish how much is due to B. and how much was added later.

III. THEOLOGICAL THOUGHT

It was above all the Trinitarian doctrine that attracted B.'s attention, because of the need to confront the spreading Arianism. While maintaining against the rationalism of Eunomius that God is not comprehensible by any creature (Adv. Eun., I, 14) and that one must above all adhere to the tradition of the Fathers (ibid., I, 1 ff.; Hom., 24, 6), he attempts to illustrate the dogma with the distinction between οὐσία and ὑπόστασις (also πρόσωπον, understanding this term correctly), which previously was used indiscriminately; and deriving the meaning of these terms from Platonic philosophy, he conceives the first as the common essence, the second as the individual subsistence (Ep., 38, 2, 3; 236, 6). He wants the property of the persons to be affirmed and the unity (μοναρχία; De Sp. S., 18, 45) to be maintained; the properties of the persons do not divide the identity of the essence (Adv. Eun., II, 28). The distinctive notes of the three persons are: in the Father, being Father and subsisting, he alone, without any cause (ἐκ μοδεμίας αἰτίνας); in the Son, shining forth, only-begotten, from the unbegotten light, and in making known through himself and with himself the Spirit who proceeds from the Father; in the Holy Spirit, being manifested after the Son and with the Son and having his subsistence from the Father (Ep., 38, 4). In substance, therefore, the divine persons are distinguished from one another by virtue of their mutual relations (σχέσεις). The Son proceeds from the Father as his perfectly equal image, by way of a generation that is impossible, indivisible, eternal, as a ray of light, as a word that perfectly expresses thought (Adv. Eun., II, 12, 16, 28; Hom., 16, 3). Maintaining the Nicene ὁμοούσιος "consubstantial" (Ep., 8, 3), B. is nevertheless prepared to accept the formula "ὁμοιος κατ' οὐσίαν" ("like as to essence"), provided that ἀπαραλλάκτως ("without any difference") is added to it, whereby one has the equivalent of ὁμοούσιος (Ep., 9, 3). He defends, throughout the treatise De Spiritu Sancto and elsewhere, the divinity of the third Person and his consubstantiality with the Father and the Son (cf., for example, De Sp. S., 18, 45 ff.; Adv. Eun., II, 34), while avoiding, so as not to offend his opponents too much, calling him God. As for the manner of proceeding, while he acknowledges the difficulty of understanding it, he affirms not only that there is an intimate union of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son (Hom., 24, 6-7), but also that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son (διὰ τὸν μονογενῆ), not by generation, but as "spiritus oris eius" (De Sp. S., 18, 45; Ep., 38, 4).

In Christology, he affirms that the Word assumed a true human body and only thus could redeem us (Ep., 261, 2); Christ therefore is not only man, but man-God (In ps., 48, 4). As for the manner of the redemption, B. appears uncertain: in the same place where he seems to accept the explanation of the price paid to the devil, he also asserts that God had to be appeased with the holy and precious blood of Jesus Christ, so that man might obtain the remission of sin (ibid., 3-4). Man, as also the angel, received from God sanctification and likeness to him. The effects of sanctifying grace are described as a return to the image of God, elevation, illumination, spiritualization, in addition to the charismatic gifts (De Sp. S., 9, 23; 16, 38). Adam, deceived by the devil, ate the forbidden fruit, and thus fell from his natural state, lost his greatest good, which was to adhere to God, plunged into every kind of evil and transmitted sin to humanity (Hom., 1, 3; 8, 7; 9, 6-7). The necessity of actual grace, repeatedly declared, seems to be asserted also for the beginning of faith and of justification, when it is said that our free will is prepared by the Lord (De Sp. S., 8, 18), that it is not we who grasp Christ by our own power but we are upheld by Christ through his coming (Hom., 20, 4); that the Lord has gone before us and lifted us up, as a child unable to swim is lifted up on the waters (In ps., 29, 2).

Faith is "the full assent (ἀδιάκριτος) to what is heard, in the full certainty of the truth of the things that by God's gift are preached" (De fide, 1), and it is preceded by the rational cognition of God's existence through creatures (Ep., 235). The truths to be believed are drawn from Scripture and from unwritten traditions (De Sp. S., 7, 16; 9, 22; 10, 25;

27, 66 ff.; 29, 71; 30, 77; Ep. 140, 2; 243, 2). The efficacy of Baptism, necessary for salvation as is faith (De Sp. S., 12, 28), comes not from the water but from the presence of the Holy Spirit (ibid., 15, 35); Baptism restores us to paradise, makes us ascend to the kingdom of heaven and return to the adoption of sons, gives us the confidence to call God our father, makes us become sharers in the grace of Christ, children of light, partakers of eternal glory, gives us the fullness of every blessing; it can be supplied by martyrdom (ibid., 15, 36). The presence of the body and blood of the Lord in the Eucharist is mentioned by citing the biblical texts (Reg. brev., 172, 309; Mor., 8, 1); daily communion is good and beneficial; to facilitate its frequency it is permitted, not only in time of persecution, but also to solitaries, and in certain places, such as Alexandria and Egypt, to all, to keep the Eucharist at home after the priest has completed the sacrifice (Ep., 93). Confession of sins is necessary to those who can heal them, that is, to those to whom the administration of the mysteries of God was entrusted (Reg. brev., 229, 288; cf. In ps., 32, 3). As for eschatology, B. resolutely condemns the opinion that denies the eternity of the punishments of hell (De Sp. S., 16, 40; Reg. brev., 267).

In morals, B. draws largely on Cynic-Stoic doctrine, which had become common patrimony, particularly in the form of the diatribe, a kind of popular moralizing preaching that exercised a notable influence on Christian preaching. He combats in particular drunkenness, envy, pride, greed and the hardness of heart of the rich, with terms that would seem to deny the right of property (Hom., 8, 7), while the affirmations of the duty of charity are rather energetic. In the ascetic field, he presents the monastic life as a state of perfection (Serm. de renunt. asec., 2, whose authenticity is contested), which he understands in the cenobitic form, whose advantages over the eremitic he extols, for the correction of one's defects, the exercise of charity and of all the virtues (Reg. fus., 7; Serm. de renunt. asec., 2). The Basilian cenobium comprises a modest number of monks in comparison with the cenobium of St. Pachomius, and is not linked, as the latter is, in a true organization with other monasteries. Of the greatest importance is docilely following the spiritual director (ibid., 3-4). The monk must work with his hands, according to the dispositions of the superior, in order to mortify himself, to exercise charity toward his neighbor and to fulfill the will of God (Reg. fus., 37-43); he must study Scripture, and the Regulae breves are precisely ascetic explanations of biblical passages; he must attend, in community, to prayer and psalmody, distributed among the different hours of the day (Reg. fus., 37, 2-5). While insisting on the necessity of mortifying the body (Reg. fus., 17, 2; Hom., 3, 3), he wants this to be done with moderation, keeping in mind bodily needs and the preeminence of spiritual mortification (Reg. fus., 19, 20, 22; Reg. brev., 126, 128, 139, 196). In this way the soul will reach union with God, the source of every delight (In ps., 32, 1, 4; 44, 6; 45, 2; Hom., 4, 2). Even today Eastern monasticism follows the path traced by St. B., although he did not intend to found what is today called a religious order.

BIBLI. Una storia critica delle edizioni generali di s. B. fu intrapresa da D. Amand, in Revue Bénédictine, 52 (1940), pp. 140-161; 53 (1941), pp. 119-51; 54 (1942), pp. 124-44; 56 (1943), pp. 126-73. La prima edizione completa fu pubblicata a Basilea nel 1532: la migliore è quella dei maurini Garnier e Maran, con traduzione latina del Garnier e ampi prolegomeni, Parigi 1721-30; ri-

produced several times, it also appears, with the addition of new texts, in PG 29-32. Of the few partial editions there are: C. F. Johnston, De Spiritu Sancto, Oxford 1892; R. Deferrari and Mc Guire, S. B. Letters, 4 vols., London 1926; the homily to the young (Hom., 22) edited by E. Sommer, Paris 1903, and by A. Nardi, Turin 1931; the commentary on the prophet Isaiah in Corona Patrum Salesiana, with translation by P. Trevisan, 2 vols., Turin 1939. A version of the Hexaemeron was published by G. Morgera, Piacenza 1894. A French version, with an ample introduction and notes, was edited by B. Pruche (Sources chrétiennes, Paris [1946]). The Rules were translated and arranged by subject by E. Leggio, Turin 1934. D. Amand has in preparation the critical edition of the Hexaemeron (Revue Bénédictine, 52 [1940], p. 141).

Studi: Biografia: F. Baert, in Acta SS. Junii, II, Anversa 1698, pp. 807-958; Tillemont, IX, Parigi 1714, pp. 1-304, 628-691; P. Maran, nella prefazione all'edizione maurina, PG 29, pp. v-CLXVII; P. Allard, S. B., trad. ital., Roma 1904; I. Schäfer, B. des Grossen Beziehungen zum Abendlande, Münster in Vestf. 1909; J. Wittig, Leben, Lebensweisheit und Lebenskunde des hl. Metropoliten B., Friburgo in Br. 1920; M. M. Fox, The Life and times of st. B. the Great as revealed in his works (Patristic Studies, 57), Washington 1939. - Opere letterarie: E. Fialon, Etude littéraire et historique sur st. B., 2e ed., Parigi 1869; J. Wittig, Des hl. B. geistliche Übungen (Breslauer Studien zur hist. Theol., 1), Breslavia 1922 (Commento a Isaia); cf. la critica di Altaner, in Byzantin-Neugrisch. Jahrbücher, 3 (1922), p. 426 s.g.; J. M. Campbell, The influence of the second sophistic on the sermons of st. B. (Patristic Studies, 2), Washington 1922; L. W. Jack, B. and the greek Literature (Patristic studies, 1), ivi 1922; M. Bessières, La tradition manuscrite de la correspondance de s. B., Oxford 1923; A. C. Way, The language and style of the Letters of st. B. (Patristic Studies, 23), Washington 1927. - Monachismo: H. Morison, St. B. and his rule, Oxford 1912; W. C. Clarke, B. the Great. A study in Monasticism, Cambridge 1913; M. M. G. Murphy, St. B. and monasticism (Patristic Studies, 25), Washington 1930. - Pensiero: K. Hall, Amphibolichus von Ihonium in seinem Verhältnis zu den grossen Kappadoziem, Tubinga e Lipsia 1904, pp. 122-58; F. Nager, Die Trinitättelehre des hl. B., Paderborn 1912; J. Maier, Die Eucharistielehre der drei grossen Kappadozier, Friburgo in Br. 1915; P. Humbertclaude, La doctrine ascétique de st. B. de Cétarée, Parigi 1932; P. Batifol, L'ecclésiologie de B., in Echos d'Orient, 21 (1922), p. 9 sgg.; M. J. Lubatschovsky, Des hl. B. Kampf gegen den Arianismus. Ein Beitrag zur Textgeschichte der B. liturgie, in Zeitschrift für Kathol. Theologie, 46 (1942), p. 20 sgg.; Y. Courtonne, St. B. et l'hellénisme, Parigi 1934. - Opere generali: O. Bardenhewer, Geschichte der altkirchlichen Literatur, III, Friburgo in Br. 1923, pp. 130-62, 670 s.g.; O. Schilin, Die altkirchliche griechische Literatur, Monaco 1924, pp. 1407-13 (estratto da W. v. Christ, Geschichte der griechischen Literatur, 6e ed., parte 2e, 2); A. Pouch, Histoire de la littérature grecque chrétienne, III, Parigi 1930, pp. 234-317; P. Allard e M. Besses, s. v. in DThC, II, coll. 441-59; G. Bardy, s. v. in DHG, VI, coll. 1111-26; id., s. v. in DSp, I, coll. 1273-83; M. Viller e K. Rahner, Aussee und Mystik in der Väterzeit, Friburgo in Br. 1939, pp. 122-33.

IV. PEDAGOGY

In chapter 6 of his monastic Rule, St. Basil gives certain norms concerning the education of young people who intend to dedicate themselves to the monastic life. First of all, St. Basil wants young people to live separated from the older monks, not only so that they do not become too familiar with those who must always be treated with respect, but also so that they do not take bad example from the old and from those actions which, tolerable in an old man, are not to be permitted in a young one. Young and old will perform only the exercises of piety in common. The young will have a schedule different from that of the old, and foods too will be given differently according to ages and needs. St. Basil wants the teacher to be chosen with the greatest care: he must surpass the others in experience and must be known for his gentleness, so that, with a father's heart, he may correct the errors of the young, applying, where necessary, the appropriate remedies so that "by punishing the fault he may train the soul to overcome the passions" (Regulae fusius tractatae, 33). The child must be trained in the habit of virtue so that when the use of reason comes to him he will already find himself well started toward virtue, and this because the habit once formed brings ease and readiness to virtuous living.

For the instruction of young people who dedicate themselves to the monastic life, St. Basil wants them to approach Holy Scripture. The teachers must tell them the stories and the wonderful deeds narrated in it. Have them learn, he says to the teachers, the sentences of the proverbs, offer prizes for memorization, both for words and for things, so that the children may reach the goal without becoming bored, without disgust, indeed with delight, as if taking recreation. Among the homilies of St. Basil known to us, the 22nd, addressed "to the young on the fruits that can be drawn from the Greek writers," deserves mention here for its pedagogical value. As is well known, a question that was debated in the ancient Christian world with different and opposing solutions was that of the relationship between the new Christian culture and the old profane culture. A question that would not fail to reappear here and there over the course of the centuries; one sees it in fact rise again in Italy during the Humanist period and in France in the nineteenth century. St. Basil, like the Fathers of the Eastern Christian Church in general, while postulating the need for Christian wisdom, as that which is the depositary of truth, does not despise ancient learning. St. Basil thinks that profane writings can start the Christian on the way to knowledge of the true and to the practice of virtue. It is through the study of the ancient classics that one acquires that wealth of ornament and form so suited to enriching the substance of Christian wisdom. The tree is admired and pleases not only for its fruits but also for the splendor of its adornment of leaves. Moses trained in the disciplines of the Egyptians and Daniel in those of the Chaldeans. The study of the classics is useful to one who wishes to begin and dedicate himself to religious studies, because it is possible from them, since they narrate virtuous deeds and give teachings of sound morality, to draw, as bees do from flowers, the moral concepts that they contain within themselves. St. Basil, while wanting the ancient classics to be studied, warns that not all are to be placed in the hands of the young. Thus those works or those passages where vicious scenes are described or false doctrines are taught are to be excluded from contact with the young. Many are the virtuous examples that St. Basil finds in the ancient world and that Christians can imitate. Socrates, Pericles, Alexander performed virtuous acts; Diogenes himself, with his contempt for earthly things, teaches how one should behave toward them. Not only that, but also in the ancient poets one can find matter for good education, as in Homer, in Theognis, in Prodicus, the latter for the episode of Hercules at the Crossroads. St. Basil concludes by affirming that if the ancient writers had in view the life of the world, we can treasure their works and their sentences for the life of heaven.

Nino Sammartano