BASIL
6S3
BASIL
translation and notes, was published l>y the Jesuits Fronton la Due and Morel (Paris, 1G18, 2 vols, fol., and again 1G38, 3 vols. fol.). Valuable contributions to a more correct edition were made by the Dominican Combefis, in his work Basilius Magnus, ex integro re- cens'tus (Paris, 1G79, 2 vols. 8vo). The most complete edition was prepared by the Benedictine Gamier (Par- is, 1721-1730, 3 vols, folio), reprinted in the excellent Paris edition of 1839 (G vols, royal 8vo). The contents of the Benedictine edition (1721-30, 3 vols.) are as fol- lows : Tom. i : (1.) Homilia} in llexaemeron novem; (2.) Homiliaj in quosdam Psalmos, viz. : 1, 7, 14 (part), 23, 29, 32, 33, 44, 45, 48, 59, CI, 104; (3.) Libri adver- sus Eunomium 5. Appendix, complectens Opera quas- dam Basilio falso adscripts, quibus Opus Eunomii ad- jungitur. Tom. ii: (1.) Homilise de Diversis 24; (2.) Ascetica, viz. : (i.) Prasvia Institutio ascetica; (ii.) Sermo asceticus de Renunciatione Saeculi, etc. ; (iii.) Sermo de ascetica Disciplina, etc. ; (iv.) Prooemium de Judicio Dei ; (v.) Sermo de Fide ; (vi.) Index Mo- ralium ; (vii.) Initium Moralium ; (viii. and ix.) Sermo asceticus ; (x.) Prooemium in Regulas fusius tracta- tas; (xi.) Capita Regularum fusius tractatarum ; (xii.) Regulas fusius tractate ; (xiii.) Pcenaj in Monachos delinquentes ; (xiv.) Epitimia in Canonicas; (xv.) Capita Constitutionum ; (xvi.) Constitutiones Monas- tica? ; (xvii.) Homilia de Spiritu S. ; (xviii.) Homilia in aliquot Scrip. Locis, dicta in Lazicis ; (xix.) Ho- milia in Sanctam Christi Generationem ; (xx.) Ho- milia de Pcenitentia; (xxi.) Homilia in Calumniato- res S. Trinitatis ; (xxii.) Sermo de Libero Arbitrio ; (xxiii.) Homilia in illud, "Ne dederis somnum oculis tuis," etc.; (xxiv.) Homilia 3 de Jejunio; (xxv.) Sermo asceticus; (xxvi.) Liber 1 de Baptismo; (xxvii.) Liber 2 de Baptismo ; (xxviii.) Liturgia S. Basilii Alexandrina; (xxix.) Liturgia S. Basilii Coptica ; (xxx.) Tractatus de Consolatione in Ad rersis ; (xxxi.) De Laude solitariaj Vitas ; (xxxii.) Adn.onitio ad Fili- um Spiritualem ; (3.) Homilia? [8] S. Basilii quas transtulit Ruffinus e Graeeo in Latinum ; (4.) Notaj Fron- tonis Ducrei ; (5.) Xota? ct Animad. F. Morclli. T( m. iii : (1.) Liber de Spiritu Sancto (Erasmus was the first to dispute the authenticity of this book, which is un- doubtedly tiie work of St. Basil. — See Casaubon, Ex- ercit. xvi, cap. 43. — Cave ; Dupin) ; (2.) S. Basilii Epistola?, distributed chronologically into three class- es— Class 1, containing those which were written from 357 to 370, i. e. before his episcopate, to which are added some of doubtful date ; Class 2, from 370 to 378 ; Class 3, Epistles without date, doubtful and spu- rious. Appendix : Sermones 24 de Moribus, per Sym- eonen Magistrum et Logothetam, selecti ex omnibus S. Basilii operibus ; De Virginitate liber. A. Jahn published, as a supplement to this edition, Animadver- siones in Basilii M. Opera Fascic. I (Bern. 1842). The best selection from his works, containing all, indeed, that ordinary theological students need, is that of Leipzic, 1854, forming the second volume of Thilo's Bibliotheca Patrum Grcecorum Dogmatica. His writ- ings are divided into, (1.) polemical, (2.) liturgical, (3.) exegetical, (4.) ascetic. Among his polemical books, that on the Holy Spirit, and the five books against the Eunomians, are the most important. His liturgical writings are of great value, and some of his services are still, in abridged forms, in use in the Greek Church. Both by his example and his writings he was the substantial founder of monasticism in the East, so that it is common, though erroneous, to call all Oriental monks Basilians (q. v.). A. Jahn, in the treatise Basilius Ploiimzans (1831), tried to show that Basil had largely copied from Plotinus. Ilis Liturgia Alexandrina Grasca is given in Renaudot, Lit. Orient. Collectw, vol. i. For a list of his genuine writings, as well as of those thought to be spurious, see Cave, Hist. Lit. anno 370; Lardner, Works, iv. 278. See also Feiffer, Dissert, de Vita Basilii (Groning. 1828, 8vo) ; Bobringer, Kirchcngeschichte in Biograj.hkn, i, 2, 153 ;
Dupin, Eecl. Writers, cent, iv; Hermantius, Vie de St. Basile le Grand (Paris, 1574, 2 vols. 4to); Klose, Ba- silius der Grosse (Strals. 18;;5, 8vo) ; Fialon, Etude hist, et liter, sur St. Basile (Paris, 18GG); Palmer, Origans Liturgica, i, 4(i; Villemain, Eloqumce au IV"* Steele, p. 114 ; Landon, Eccl. Diet, ii, G2.
Basil or Basilius, some time a phj'sieian, was ordained bishop of Ancyra by the bishops of the Euse- bian party in the room of Marcellus, whom they had deposed ; but Basil was himself excommunicated, and his ordination annulled, in the council of Sardica in I 347, though he still retained the see. He was an op- j ponent of the Arians, but was still considered as the ' head of the Semi-Arians. This opinion Basil procured to be established by a council held at Ancyra in the year 358, and subsequently defended it both at Selcu- cia and Constantinople against the Eudoxians and Acacians, by whom he was deposed in 3G0. Jerome 1 (De Viris Must. 89) informs us that Basil wrote a book ! against Marcellus, his predecessor, a treatise De Vir- \ ginitate, and some other smaller pieces, of which no remains are extant. Basil is warmly commended by Theodoret for his exemplary life, which was probably the secret of his influence with the emperor Constan- , tius ; and Sozomen speaks of him as celebrated for learning and eloquence. See Cave, Hist. Lit. anno ! 347; Dupin, Eecl. Writers, cent, iv ; Theodoret, Hist. i Eccles. ii, 27 ; Sozomen, Hist. Eccles. bk. ii ; Socrates, '< Hist. Eccles. bk. ii ; Lardner, Works, iii, 589. ! Basil, bishop of Seleucia in Isauria (not to be con- ! founded with the Basil who was the intimate friend ! of Chrysostom). At the Council of Constantinople in 448, he gave his vote for the condemnation of Euty- ! ches ; but in the following year, at the robber-council of Ephesus, through fear of the threats and violence of Dioscorus, or from actual weakness and fickleness of judgment, he took precisely the opposite ground, and anathematized the doctrine of two natures in Je- sus Christ. In the Council of Chalcedon, 451, Basil, together with the other leaders in the assembly at Ephesus, was deposed, but in the fourth session of the council he was restored to his dignity. He wrote Forty-three Bonn/its; seventeen on the Old, and twen- ty-six en the New Testament (Dupin reckons only forty). These were published in Greek at Heidelberg (1596, 8vo) ; Greek and Latin, with notes, by Dausque (Heidelb. 1G04, 8vo), together with the Oratio in Trans- figurationem Domini, in Greek and Latin. The fol- lowing are supposed to be spurious : 1. A Demonstra- tion of the Coming of Christ, against the Jews, in Latin, ed. by Turrianus (Ingolstadt, 1G1G, 4to); Greek, in the Heidelberg edition of the Homilies (159G). This is clearly, from its style, not the work of Basil, and is not found in any MS. of his writings. 2. Life and Miracles of St. Thecla, virgin and martyr, which, ac- cording to Caveare, is evidently the work of some Greek monk of a late age, edited by Pantinus, Ant- werp (1608, Gr. and Lat.). All the above were pub- lished in Greek and Latin (Paris, 1622, fol.), with the works of Gregory Thauniaturgus. See Cave, Hist. Lit. anno 448; Dupin, Eccl. Writers, cent, v, p. 28 ; Landon, Eccl. Diet. s. v.