The first Father I will be examining will be St. Basil the Great. He's somewhat of a random choice, mostly because I've been wanting to read him all year and so now I'm finally sitting down to do so. This will serve as an introdocutory post to the saint's biography, and later in the week I will begin commenting on some of his writings.
Basil was the son of a saint, St. Basil the Elder, the grandon of a saint, St. Macrina, and the brother of two saints, St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Macrina the Younger. St. Basil the Great, along with his brother Gregory and another St. Gregory, of Nazienzus, comrpise a trio known as the Cappodocian Fathers, so named for the region of modern-day Turkey were they lived. Both Basil and his brother Gregory were bishops, and Gregory Nazienzen was Patriarch of Constantinople.
St. Basil wrote copiously, and has left us a great treasure of ascetical and theological works. His most famous is probably his work on the Holy Spirit, but perhaps his most influential was his Monastic Rule, which today is followed by most monasteries of the Eastern Church.
Basil was born around 329 and died on January 1, 379, only 50 years old yet accomplishing a great deal in his short life. The end of his life was filled with great personal sufferings, including the death of his older brother Gregory, the death of St. Athanasius, a close friend, and a sad estrangement from his dear friend St. Gregory Nazienzen. He fought tirelessly throughout his life against a variety of heresies, most notably the Arian heresy, and towards the end of his life much of his work seemed to be in vain.
In addition to his great ascetical, moral, and theological writings, we also have over 350 existing letters composed by this great doctor, and the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great, which he composed and exists today in Greek and Coptic, is still used in some Eastern Churches today.
It is primarily St. Basil's ascetical works that I will be examining, beginning with An Ascetical Discourse and Exhortation on the Renunciation of the World and Spiritual Perfection. Until then, Sancte Basili, ora pro nobis.
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