94 Basil of Caesarea, the Great, Saint
A History of the Byzantine State and Society(Stanford,
Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1997).
Basil of Caesarea, the Great, Saint (ca. 330–379)
bishop of Caesarea, influential in the development of Eastern
Orthodox monasticism
Born about 330 as one of nine or 10 children, Basil was a
member of a wealthy and noble Christian family of Cap-
padocia or Pontus. His younger brother Gregory, later
known as GREGORYof Nyssa, also became a bishop and a
distinguished theologian. When he was 21, after study-
ing in his native Cappadocian Caesarea and in CON-
STANTINOPLE, Basil went to ATHENS for five years to
pursue a liberal education. There he met GREGORYof
Nazianzus, a fellow student, with whom he formed a
lifelong friendship.
After teaching rhetoric for a time at home in Cae-
sarea after 355, Basil decided to abandon the secular life
and to pursue instead the ideal of Christian perfection.
He visited notable Christian ascetics in EGYPTand the
Middle East and then returned, when he was about 30, to
his family’s estates on the Iris River in Pontus to lead a
life of monastic retirement and discipline. Influencing
others by his example, Basil was the inaugurator in
ANATOLIA of cenobite monasticism, a system by which
monks lived in communities under a shared rule of life.
Basil’s writings on monasticism or his rule were the single
most important body of regulative documents for Eastern
Orthodox monasticism.
Because of his leadership and learning, Basil was
drawn away from his monastic interests into the wider
life of conflicts within the church. Between 359 and 370
two successive bishops of Caesarea summoned him to
their service; the second ordained him a priest in about
- But Basil’s strong convictions strained relations with
his superiors, and he often left Caesarea to work among
his monasteries. Selling some of his personal wealth and
convincing merchants not to take advantage of the situa-
tion, Basil limited the impact of a serious famine in Cap-
padocia. In 370 he was made bishop of Caesarea, and
until his death in 379 he was one of the most important
figures of the Eastern church.
THE ARIAN CONTROVERSYThe most pressing problem Basil faced was the unre-
solved ARIANcontroversy, which had troubled the Eastern
Church over the preceding 50 years. The Arians asserted
that belief in the full deity of Christ was incompatible
with monotheism. The chief problem for the various
Orthodox groups was the question of whether it was pos-
sible to preserve individual distinctions among God the
Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit, while contin-
uing to assert the full divinity of all three.
Basil was certain that Arianism was heretical, but he
also believed that the Nicene party, adhering strictly to
the language of the Council of NICAEAin 325, did not
present a secure theological formulation of the orthodox
position. He took the important step of agreeing with the
Nicene view that there is only one divine substance
shared by Father, Son, and Spirit; but he insisted at the
same time that each of the three is an individual hyposta-
sis within a single triune deity.
As a church leader, Basil showed notable courage in
defying the Eastern emperor Valens (r. 364–378), who
was intent on forcing a statement of creed tolerant of
Arianism on the church and banishing the anti-Arian
bishops. In prolonged attempts to impose order and
understanding on the chaotic conflict of parties in the
Eastern Church, Basil tried often but without success to
win the adherence of the bishop of Rome or the papacy
in approving the growing coalition of non-Arian parties.
Too much of a moderate for the strongly Nicene position
of the papacy, he paved the way nonetheless for the final
victory of his cause at the Council of Constantinople in
381, a victory he did not live to see, in that he died
on January 1, 379. He helped develop a concept of the
Trinity and created a Basilian Rule, a balanced and model
regimen of work and worship for monks that had
tremendous impact on the development of monasticism.
His many letters are a rich source for the cultural history
of the period.
Further reading:Basil of Caesarea, Saint Basil on the
Value of Greek Literature, ed. N. G. Wilson (London:
Duckworth, 1975); Paul J. Fedwick, The Church and the
Charisma of Leadership in Basil of Caesarea(Toronto: Pon-
tifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1979); Philip
Rousseau, Basil of Caesarea(Berkeley: University of Cali-
fornia Press, 1994).Basques(Vasco, Vascongu ̄ do, Euskaldunak, Eusko-
tark) They live near the Bay of Biscay, on both sides of
the Pyrenees. The Romans called them Vascones, and
the name lived on in the Middle Ages, applied to the
Gascons in southern France and the Navarrese in north-
ern Spain. In the fifth century, the Basques preserved
their autonomy from the new Visigothic kingdom. They
later converted to Christianity, but this did not draw
them closer to the FRANKS. They turned aside the
attempts of CHARLEMAGNEto conquer their country by
defeating his army in 787 at the Battle of RONCEVAUX.
By the 10th century much of their country was the basis
of the kingdom of NAVARREand the rest was ruled by
the dukes of Gascony. In the 15th century these princi-
palities were united by the counts of Foix as feudal
lords. At the same time the Basques themselves enjoyed
local autonomy in their communities of peasants and
shepherds.
Further reading: Roger Collins, The Basques
(Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986); Roger Collins, “Spain:
The Northern Kingdoms and the Basques, 711–910,” in