Basil of Caesarea

Basilius Caesariensis

Biography

Basil was born into a noble and wealthy family which had been Christian for several generations. His paternal grandmother was Saint Macrina the Elder and his mother, Emmelia, was the daughter of a martyr. He received a Christian education and followed the teachings of his father Basil, the famous rhetorician of Neocaesarea. He studied rhetoric in Caesarea, Constantinople and (after 351) in Athens, where he became closely acquainted with Gregory of Nazianzus. When his father died in 358, he retired to solitude near Neocaesarea, where companions joined him and shared the cenobitic life with him. He founded several monasteries. Ordained a priest around 364, on the death of Eusebius in 370 Basil was elected to be Bishop of Caesarea, Metropolitan of Cappadocia and exarch of the civil diocese of Pontus. He created hospitals and hospices, and above all a veritable hospital-city, the Basiliad. He tried to restore the unity of believers and to reunite fully with the West and with the Church of Antioch.

Works

• Aduersus eos qui irascuntur
• Aduersus eos qui per calumniam dicunt dici a nobis tres deos
• Aduersus Eunomium I
• Aduersus Eunomium libri II-III
• Asceticon magnum I

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Quotations

• [OBNIg]
• [JB] Ge
• [JB] Ge 1
• [JB] Ge 1:1-5
• [JB] Ge 1:1

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