§ 134. Василий Великий в жизни его.

Throughout his life, Ephraim did not want to part with desert solitude, and from the desert he shines grace into the universe. St. Basil, who called and did not call Ephraim from the desert, shines from the pulpit and remains great for earth and for heaven, in deeds for his own and for all times 470. Basil had different gifts than Ephraim; he was prepared by the Spirit of grace for a different purpose. The branch of a noble and very rich family, and, more importantly, a pious family, firm in faith and amid persecution, Vasily received his childhood education from his pious grandmother Macrina, and he listened to the beginnings of rhetoric from his father in Neocaesarea 471. Then, for 14 years, with a thirst for enlightenment, he visited the most famous schools of his time; I spent quite some time listening to lessons in Cappadocia, then in Constantinople at Libanius 472; finally in Athens, where the same purity of heart concluded a close alliance of friendship between Basil and Gregory of Nazianza 473. Greece recognized Vasily as an orator and philologist, philosopher and mathematician, lawyer and doctor 474. Returning through Constantinople 475 and Ephesus 476 to Pontus, he held the position of lawyer for some time. At the beginning of 359, feeling the vanity of worldly glory, he decided to completely break off contact with the world; received Baptism and the degree of reader 477, and went to study the monastic life of the hermits in Syria, Mesopotamia, Palestine and Egypt; then he settled near Neokesarea in the desert, watered by the Iris stream, not far from the place where his mother and sister lived with other virgins. Here his first essay was an essay on the Judgment of God, on faith and moral rules. This was followed by various instructions for the monks who turned the Vasiliev desert into a populous city, and an essay against Eunomius; in the kind desert, he and his friend Gregory studied the works of the intelligent Origen, compiling a selection of the best of his works - Philocalia 478. In 363, the hermit wrote to Julian, who demanded money from him and threatened to devastate Caesarea: “I shudder that you are clothed in purple, that your head is adorned with a crown, which, without piety, is imputed to the king not as honor, but as dishonor. You know better than yesterday that I do not like to collect wealth: and yet, you demand from me 1,000 liters of gold. Have mercy, sir! I acquired so much of it that if today I wanted to taste food another time, I wouldn’t have the money for that either. I, as it should be, have nothing to do as a cook: the best of the dishes with which we abound, herbal leaves with stale bread and sour wine” 479. In 364, Basil was ordained a presbyter 480 and preached the Word of God in Caesarea, writing conversations on the Sixth Day. Yielding to the human weakness of his shepherd Eusebius, Vasily withdrew into the desert for a while; but soon again (in 365) he was summoned to help the bishop against the Arians; – The Church of Caesarea was now saved from the Arians, because Basil was its shepherd, although he was not yet a bishop; Basil managed all the affairs of the Caesarea flock, and she was at peace during the famine (368) - he both consoled and nourished her. Then he spoke his words among other things: to the rich, about stinginess, about glory and hunger. In 370, elected bishop of Caesarea, Basil combined care for the poor with concerns for the Orthodoxy of the entire East, oppressed by the Arianism of Valens; for this purpose he entered into relations with Athanasius the Great and with the West. He acted carefully with those who seemed to others to be semi-Arians, so as not to unnecessarily arm them either against himself or against the Church. Valens in 371 decided to introduce Arianism into the Cappadocia region by force; Vasily was summoned to trial before the proud prefect Modest. Here they pointed out to him the agreement of so many bishops of the East with the will of the emperor and demanded the same consent from him. “My king does not want, and I cannot bow down to the creature, I myself am a creation of God,” said Vasily. What do you think we are? asked the arrogant prefect. “No way under such commands.” The prefect mockingly pointed out that it was worth something to be close to the prefect. Vasily replied that it was honorable to be in communication with nobles, but not as honorable as with all the faithful: “Christianity is glorious not by honor, but by faith.” The prefect lost his temper: “What! he said, “And are you not afraid of my power?” “Why should I be afraid?” asked Vasily. “I will order that your estate be described to the treasury, that you yourself be exiled, given over to torture, put to death.” “Threaten something else if you can.” How! Why! “Because whoever does not have property cannot be described. I only have one hair shirt and a few books. I don't consider links to be links. The whole earth is God's, and I am a stranger and a wanderer. Death is a blessing for me; it will sooner lead me to God, for whom I live, serve, and for the most part have already died.” No one had ever spoken to Modest so boldly, said the prefect, amazed at the Great’s answers. “In all other cases,” said Vasily, we are meek, more humble than anyone. But when it comes to the glory of God, then everything else is nothing for us, and we only look at it alone. Fire, sword, animals, iron claws - they bring us more joy than fear." 481 The emperor used measures of violence against Vasily, but God himself stood up for Vasily, and Valens left Vasily alone 482. As soon as this attack on Vasily ended, Vasily again turned to asking the West for assistance against the Arians, begged to send trustees to the Council against the enemies of the truth, moved himself from one bishop to another in the East in order to unite the hearts of everyone in favor of the truth, meanwhile, sorrow after sorrow followed for him: either the lust for power of the neighboring bishop Anonymus, or the cruel deception of Eustathius of Sebastius, whom Vasily had long loved and defended - how Orthodox shepherd and who finally began to reveal both the truth and Vasily as an enemy, then the hatred of the neo-Caesarians - unreasonable zealots of antiquity, exhausted the life of Vasily, already exhausted by constant illness. His caution in teaching the doctrine of the Holy Spirit was poorly understood by short-sighted simplicity, and even worse explained by his enemies, who took advantage of it to declare Vasily non-Orthodox 483. The shepherd wrote a book about the Holy Spirit in 375. He acted and preached tirelessly, despite his poor health. In 376 Once again he wrote to the West, vividly depicted the disasters of the Church, reminded of the duty of zeal for the faith, the duty of compassion; The West was either sleeping or waking up in order to fuel discord in the East to the detriment of the truth. And Basil, taught by experience, wrote about the Roman bishops: “Haughty in spirit, when they are respected, become even more haughty. No, if God has mercy on us, why do we need outside help? If the wrath of God continues, what benefit will the arrogance of the West bring us? They don’t know the truth and don’t want to find out, but only sanctify lies by their example” 484. Hope in the Lord did not deceive the faithful shepherd. Valens died in the war in 378. Vasily thanked the Lord for the peace of the Church; they were too exhausted by his strength, and in 379 the truly Great man 485, the luminary of the universe 486, the support of truth 487, died at the 51st year of his life 488. The life of Basil the Great is described in M.D.A. and published. in add. to Creation St. fathers 1845 Another description in Chronicle. Thurs. 1823. The first is very extensive, the second is not true in everything. Er. Basilii 222. § 210. Er. 2І0. r. 313. Er. 37. Grig. Nyssa de S. Macrin. r. 192. Amphilochius, in relation to the chronology not worthy of trust, says that St. Vasily lived with Macrina until he was 7 years old, and with his father until he was 13. Year of birth of St. Basil is determined according to the words of St. Gregory about himself in Vasily. In one place he calls himself somewhat older than Basil (Epist. 33), and in another he says that they are equal in years (Orat. 20. r. 373. Therefore, if St. Gregory was born not before 329, then St. Basil was born, of course, at the end of 330. Gregorius Naz. (Orat. 20. p. 325), Socrates (N. E. 4, 26) and Sozomen (N. E. 6, 17) are mistaken in determining the place where St. Vasily listened to Libanius; but there is no reason to reject their testimony about Basil the listener of Libanius; just as they take on too much when they want (Chronicle, 1823) to reject the correspondence of Basil with Livanii. What Garnier cites (and after him in the Chronicle) as proof of the forgery of 25 letters from Basil to Livanius and Livanius to Vasily, partly has no force at all, partly not as strong as Garnier believes. When Vasily was subsequently reproached for corresponding with a non-Orthodox person, Vasily replied that it was not forbidden to have correspondence with pagans. Meanwhile, it was not in his character to tell another about what he did not want to listen to. About Vasily’s friendship with Grigory, see Grigor. Orat. 20. rub. 339. 30–32–70. Carmen de vita sua p. 48, Νοῦς εἷς ἐν ἀμφοῖν, ού δυο, θάυμα ἐλλάδος. See Grieg. Nazianzus. Orat. 20. p. 332–333. “Our mentors were as famous as Athens; and where they heard and spoke with honor about our mentors, there they also spoke about us.” Er. 1. ad Ephstaphium. Philostorgius forces Basil the deacon, accompanied by Basil of Ancyra, to be in Constantinople to argue with the Arians; but Vasily’s words do not show that. And Philostorgius is so inaccurate in this case that it would be too much to give him confidence. And if Vasily did not now intervene in the dispute between the Arians and the Semi-Arians; then there is nothing to reproach him for, as Eunomius reproached him. Epist. Bas. 210. Er. 223. rub. 314. That Vasily was baptized by Diania, bishop. Kesar. (361–362), he himself speaks about this (De Spir. S. 23); but that this was not upon his return from a journey through the deserts is shown by his relationship with Dianus, who inadvertently subscribed to the Riminian confession of faith at the end of 360. See Deputy. 10. See Gregory's letter to Philocalia. Er. 40–41. Op. T. 3. r. 123–124. St. Gregory says about Vasily that he “did not suddenly, but gradually ascended to the rank of bishop, although he was the most worthy. At first he read the sacred books before the people, as their interpreter, and showed himself worthy of this degree; in such and such a way in the presbyter’s chair, in such and such a bishop’s chair, he praises the Lord” (Oratio 20. p. 335–336). Nasian. Orat. 20, p. 349–51. Theodorite (N. E. 5, 29). Gregory of Nazianzus. Orat. 20, p. 348. St. Basil, revealing the very truth of the Divinity of the Holy Spirit, was careful not to use the word directly before the semi-Arians - God about the Holy Spirit, “so that, as St. says. Gregory, they didn’t drive him out of the city for his theological language, and the heretics didn’t take over the church.” Orat. 20. S. Basilii Er. 69, r. 162–163. Gregory Nazian. Sl. about St. Vasily. Theodoret (N. E. 4, 19), Council of Nicaea, 2 (Ar. Binium 3.567). Socrates (N E. 4, 23); according to Zechariah Methylene. Vasily the great teacher of truth. Dialog. r. 224 et Bardt. His memory is on January 1st. - on the very day of his death, and another January 30th. You might be interested in: