Basil the Great 		June 14
Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia
Teacher of the Faith
Basil was a significant leader of the church in the later fourth century, not only in his native Cappadocia, but throughout the eastern church. His provisions for the monastic movement gave it a shape that has had permanent effect on the church.
Basil was born about 330 in Caesarea in Cappadocia, Asia Minor (not to be confused with Caesarea in Palestine). He received a thorough education in the best pagan and Christian centres of the day. He contemplated an academic career, but was attracted to the ascetic ideals of the age, in which only a life lived in the power of the Spirit and subject to God was truly worth living. It was a call to a life of intense self-discipline that set one free to be at one with God and God’s world.
For Basil, asceticism was not an end in itself. Rather, for him the key to the monastic life was love, and therefore it was to be lived in community. For a while Basil lived in community on his family estates. His brother Gregory of Nyssa and his sister Macrina were also significant figures in the church in the later Roman Empire. Basil laid the foundation for his two sets of monastic rules, which were very influential for monasticism throughout the church in the east and also in the west, only being superseded in the west by the Rule of St Benedict. Basil provided for spiritual discipline in a round of prayer and worship coupled with manual and charitable work, but he discouraged the austerities practised by some of the hermits.
In 364 Basil was ordained presbyter. In the theological disputes of the day, he strongly supported the emphasis of the Nicene Creed on the full and essential divinity of the Son. Together with his brother Gregory of Nyssa and his close friend Gregory of Nazianzus (see 9 May), he did much to persuade those who were hesitant. This Nicene theology was eventually ratified at Constantinople in 381 and is incorporated in the Nicene Creed that is still regularly recited in church.
Basil’s moderating influence was not always appreciated, least of all by the emperor Valens, who sought to undermine Basil’s position by dividing his see of Cappadocia. Basil responded by making his friend Gregory bishop of the new diocese despite Gregory’s very great reluctance. Basil also wrote a treatise, On the Holy Spirit, since the debates on the Son’s relation to the Father in the Trinity had implications for the theology of the Holy Spirit too. Basil was a convinced Trinitarian and a warm supporter of the engagement of theology with the best intellectual tradition of the day.
From 370 onwards Basil was bishop of Caesarea, and in that position had responsibilities for the churches in Pontus. He did much to organise the monastic life of the city into a significant social force as an example of community love in action. On his death in 379, Basil left to the city a complete new town on his own estates, with hospital, hospice and church, as the church’s outreach to the poor.
For Liturgical Use
Basil the Great was born about 330 and became bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia in 370. Basil was greatly attracted to the ascetic life, and, as bishop, combined his role in the church with the fostering of the monastic life as an example of community love in action. He helped draw up an influential set of monastic rules, and was a moderating influence in the promotion of the Nicene theology that was finally ratified at Constantinople in 381. Basil died in 379.
Sentence
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.	Philippians 2:5,7
Collects
Gracious and eternal God,
you called your servant Basil of Caesarea
to be a defender of the faith
and an architect of Christian communities;
help us in our day
to interpret the faith to our world
and to build a society of love and justice;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Jesus Christ, your rule is love;
you called Basil to write the monastic rule,
to teach the church to pray
and to express its doctrine;
help us, when we are pressed,
to retain our optimism and tenderness.
Psalms	62	82
Readings
Wisdom 7:15-22a		Wisdom and knowledge
1 Corinthians 2:6-13	Spiritual wisdom
Mark 10:23-31		Riches and renunciation
Post Communion Sentence
Build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God.		Jude: 20,21