Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series • VOLUME 8
Basil — Letters and Select Works
SECTION 81
Homily VII.
Homily VII. The creation of moving creatures. [1605] 1. "And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life" after their kind, "and fowl that may fly above the earth" after their kind. [1606] After the creation of the luminaries the waters are now filled with living beings and its own adornm…
2,544 wordsSECTION 825. I myself have seen these marvels, and I have admired the wisdom of God in all things. If beings deprived of reason are capable of thinkin
5. I myself have seen these marvels, and I have admired the wisdom of God in all things. If beings deprived of reason are capable of thinking and of providing for their own preservation; if a fish knows what it ought to seek and what to shun, what shall we say, who are honoured with reason, instructed by law, encouraged by the p…
2,230 wordsSECTION 83Homily VIII.
[1625] cf. Prov. xxii. 28. [1626] cf. Arist., Hist. Animal. viii. 12 and 13, and note on p. 70. [1627] cf. Arist. and Theophrastus. [1628] Otiosa mater est nugarum noverca omnium virtutum. St. Bernard. [1629] "Tradunt sævitiam maris præsagire eos, correptisque opperiri lapillis, mobilitatem pondere stabilientes: nolunt volut…
2,203 wordsSECTION 844. What a variety, I have said, in the actions and lives of flying creatures. Some of these unreasoning creatures even have a government, if
4. What a variety, I have said, in the actions and lives of flying creatures. Some of these unreasoning creatures even have a government, if the feature of government is to make the activity of all the individuals centre in one common end. This may be observed in bees. They have a common dwelling place; they fly in the air toget…
2,350 wordsSECTION 85But it appears to me that in wishing to describe the marvels of winged creatures, I remain further behind than I should if my feet had tried
But it appears to me that in wishing to describe the marvels of winged creatures, I remain further behind than I should if my feet had tried to match the rapidity of their flight. When you see bees, wasps, in short all those flying creatures called insects, because they have an incision all around, reflect that they have neither…
2,269 wordsSECTION 86Homily IX.
[1672] cf. note on p. 70. [1673] The Greek word stereoma, from stereos, strong, is traceable to the root star, to spread out, and so indirectly associated with the connotation of the Hebrew rakia. [1674] Arist., H.A. viii. 75. Pliny x. 43. "Luscinus diebus ac noctibus continuis quindecim garrulus sine intermissu cantus, densan…
2,265 wordsSECTION 874. Virtues exist in us also by nature, and the soul has affinity with them not by education, but by nature herself. We do not need lessons t
4. Virtues exist in us also by nature, and the soul has affinity with them not by education, but by nature herself. We do not need lessons to hate illness, but by ourselves we repel what afflicts us, the soul has no need of a master to teach us to avoid vice. Now all vice is a sickness of the soul as virtue is its health. Thus t…
2,496 wordsSECTION 88If God permits, we will say later in what way man was created in the image of God, and how he shares this resemblance. Today we say but only
If God permits, we will say later in what way man was created in the image of God, and how he shares this resemblance. Today we say but only one word. If there is one image, from whence comes the intolerable blasphemy of pretending that the Son is unlike the Father? What ingratitude! You have yourself received this likeness and …
1,517 wordsSECTION 89Introduction to the Letters.
Introduction to the Letters. ------------------------ Of Saint Basil the extant letters, according to popular ascription, number three hundred and sixty-six. Of these three hundred and twenty-five, or, according to some, only three hundred and nineteen are genuine. They are published in three chronological divisions, the 1st, …
944 wordsSECTION 90Letter II. [1743]
Letter II. [1743] Basil to Gregory. 1. [I recognised your letter, as one recognises one's friends' children from their obvious likeness to their parents. Your saying that to describe the kind of place I live in, before letting you hear anything about how I live, would not go far towards persuading you to share my life, was jus…
2,324 wordsSECTION 91Letter III. [1757]
[1755] This was the mark of the old heathen philosophers. cf. Aristoph., Birds 1282, errupon esokraton. [1756] asketes, firstly an artisan, came to=athletes, and by ecclesiastical writers is used for hermit or monk. The eremites, or desert dweller, lives either in retreat as an anchoret, or solitary, monachos, whence "monk;" or…
1,033 wordsSECTION 92Letter V. [1768]
Letter V. [1768] To Nectarius. [1769] 1. I heard of your unendurable loss, and was much distressed. Three or four days went by, and I was still in some doubt because my informant was not able to give me any clear details of the melancholy event. While I was incredulous about what was noised abroad, because I prayed that it mig…
882 wordsSECTION 93Letter VI. [1773]
Letter VI. [1773] To the wife of Nectarius. 1. I hesitated to address your excellency, from the idea that, just as to the eye when inflamed even the mildest of remedies causes pain, so to a soul distressed by heavy sorrow, words offered in the moment of agony, even though they do bring much comfort, seem to be somewhat out of …
804 wordsSECTION 94Letter VII. [1777]
Letter VII. [1777] To Gregory my friend. [1778] When I wrote to you, I was perfectly well aware that no theological term is adequate to the thought of the speaker, or the want of the questioner, because language is of natural necessity too weak to act in the service of objects of thought. If then our thought is weak, and our t…
2,463 wordsSECTION 956. It is on thy account that He knows not the hour and the day of judgment. Yet nothing is beyond the ken of the real Wisdom, for "all thing
6. It is on thy account that He knows not the hour and the day of judgment. Yet nothing is beyond the ken of the real Wisdom, for "all things were made by Him;" [1818] and even among men no one is ignorant of what he has made. But this is His dispensation [1819] because of thine own infirmity, that sinners be not plunged into de…
2,571 wordsSECTION 9612. So much must suffice for the present on the subject of the adorable and holy Trinity. It is not now possible to extend the enquiry about
12. So much must suffice for the present on the subject of the adorable and holy Trinity. It is not now possible to extend the enquiry about it further. Do ye take seeds from a humble person like me, and cultivate the ripe ear for yourselves, for, as you know, in such cases we look for interest. But I trust in God that you, beca…
2,200 wordsSECTION 97Letter IX. [1872]
[1849] Ps. cxxxix. 7. [1850] paragoge apo tou me ontos eis to einai. For paragoge it is not easy to give an equivalent; it is leading or bringing with a notion of change, sometimes a change into error, as when it means a quibble. It is not quite the Ben. Latin "productio." It is not used intransitively; if there is a paragoge, …
1,636 wordsSECTION 98Letter X. [1883]
Letter X. [1883] To a widow. [1884] The art of snaring pigeons is as follows. When the men who devote themselves to this craft have caught one, they tame it, and make it feed with them. Then they smear its wings with sweet oil, and let it go and join the rest outside. Then the scent of that sweet oil makes the free flock the p…
741 wordsSECTION 99Letter XIV. [1892]
Letter XIV. [1892] To Gregory his friend. My brother Gregory writes me word that he has long been wishing to be with me, and adds that you are of the same mind; however, I could not wait, partly as being hard of belief, considering I have been so often disappointed, and partly because I find myself pulled all ways by business.…
884 wordsSECTION 100Letter XV. [1897]
Letter XV. [1897] To Arcadius, Imperial Treasurer. [1898] The townsmen of our metropolis have conferred on me a greater favour than they have received, in giving me an opportunity of writing to your excellency. The kindness, to win which they have received this letter from me, was assured them even before I wrote, on account o…
758 wordsSECTION 101Letter XVII. [1903]
Letter XVII. [1903] To Origenes. [1904] It is delightful to listen to you, and delightful to read you; and I think you give me the greater pleasure by your writings. All thanks to our good God Who has not suffered the truth to suffer in consequence of its betrayal by the chief powers in the State, but by your means has made th…
1,138 wordsSECTION 102Letter XXI. [1912]
Letter XXI. [1912] To Leontius the Sophist. The excellent Julianus [1913] seems to get some good for his private affairs out of the general condition of things. Everything nowadays is full of taxes demanded and called in, and he too is vehemently dunned and indicted. Only it is a question not of arrears of rates and taxes, but…
2,207 wordsSECTION 103Letter XXIII. [1977]
[1949] Rom. xii. 10 and 1 Pet. ii. 17. [1950] Rom. xiv. 10. [1951] Matt. vi. 29, Luke xii. 27. [1952] Mark ix. 37. [1953] Phil. ii. 3. [1954] Tit. i. 10. [1955] 2 Thess. iii. 10. [1956] 1 Thess. iv. 11. [1957] 1 Cor. x. 31. [1958] 1 Cor. xiii. 6. [1959] 1 Cor. xii. 26. [1960] 1 Tim. v. 20. [1961] 2 Tim. iv. 2. [1962…
1,101 wordsSECTION 104Letter XXV. [1986]
Letter XXV. [1986] To Athanasius, bishop of Ancyra. [1987] 1. I have received intelligence from those who come to me from Ancyra, and they are many and more than I can count, but they all agree in what they say, that you, a man very dear to me, (how can I speak so as to give no offence?) do not mention me in very pleasant term…
1,131 wordsSECTION 105Letter XXVII. [1991]
Letter XXVII. [1991] To Eusebius, bishop of Samosata. [1992] When by God's grace, and the aid of your prayers, I had seemed to be somewhat recovering from my sickness, and had got my strength again, then came winter, keeping me a prisoner at home, and compelling me to remain where I was. True, its severity was much less than u…
1,832 wordsSECTION 106Letter XXIX. [2000]
Letter XXIX. [2000] To the Church of Ancyra. Consolatory. [2001] My amazement at the most distressing news of the calamity which has befallen you for a long time kept me silent. I felt like a man whose ears are stunned by a loud clap of thunder. Then I somehow recovered a little from my state of speechlessness. Now I have mour…
710 wordsSECTION 107Letter XXXI. [2006]
Letter XXXI. [2006] To Eusebius, bishop of Samosata. The death is still with us, and I am therefore compelled to remain where I am, partly by the duty of distribution, and partly out of sympathy for the distressed. Even now, therefore, I have not been able to accompany our reverend brother Hypatius, [2007] whom I am able to st…
958 wordsSECTION 108Letter XXXIII. [2013]
Letter XXXIII. [2013] To Aburgius. [2014] Who knows so well as you do how to respect an old friendship, to pay reverence to virtue, and to sympathise with the sick? Now my God-beloved brother Gregory the bishop has become involved in matters which would be under any circumstances disagreeable, and are quite foreign to his bent…
868 wordsSECTION 109Letter XXXVI. [2019]
Letter XXXVI. [2019] Without address. It has, I think, been long known to your excellency that the presbyter of this place is a foster brother of my own. What more can I say to induce you in your kindness, to view him with a friendly eye, and give him help in his affairs? If you love me, as I know you do, I am sure that you wi…
2,630 wordsSECTION 1105. Yet receive what I say as at best a token and reflexion of the truth; not as the actual truth itself. For it is not possible that there s
5. Yet receive what I say as at best a token and reflexion of the truth; not as the actual truth itself. For it is not possible that there should be complete correspondence between what is seen in the tokens and the objects in reference to which the use of tokens is adopted. Why then do I say that an analogy of the separate and …
2,288 wordsSECTION 111Letter XXXIX. [2048]
[2042] Heb. i. 3. [2043] The simpler explanation of the use of the word hypostasis in the passage under discussion is that it has the earlier sense, equivalent to ousia. cf. Athan., Or. c. Ar. iii. 65, iv. 33, and Ad. Apos. 4. [2044] John xiv. 9. [2045] Col. i. 15. [2046] This phrase is not in the Epistles, nor indeed does t…
1,158 wordsSECTION 112Letter XLI. [2057]
Letter XLI. [2057] Basil to Julian. 1. The heroic deeds of your present splendour are small, and your grand attack against me, or rather against yourself, is paltry. When I think of you robed in purple, a crown on your dishonoured head, which, so long as true religion is absent, rather disgraces than graces your empire, I trem…
2,815 wordsSECTION 1135. What good then do I get except the loss of my soul? For this reason I migrate to the hills like a bird. "I am escaped as a bird out of th
5. What good then do I get except the loss of my soul? For this reason I migrate to the hills like a bird. "I am escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers." [2080] I am living, O evil thought, in the desert in which the Lord lived. Here is the oak of Mamre; here is the ladder going up to heaven, and the stronghold of the…
866 wordsSECTION 114Letter XLIII. [2090]
Letter XLIII. [2090] Admonition to the Young. O faithful man of solitary life, and practiser of true religion, learn the lessons of the evangelic conversation, of mastery over the body, of a meek spirit, of purity of mind, of destruction of pride. Pressed into the service, [2091] add to your gifts, for the Lord's sake; robbed,…
1,176 wordsSECTION 115Letter XLV. [2102]
Letter XLV. [2102] To a lapsed Monk. 1. I am doubly alarmed to the very bottom of my heart, and you are the cause. I am either the victim of some unkindly prepossession, and so am driven to make an unbrotherly charge; or, with every wish to feel for you, and to deal gently with your troubles, I am forced to take a different an…
1,075 wordsSECTION 116Letter XLVI. [2108]
Letter XLVI. [2108] To a fallen virgin. 1. Now is the time to quote the words of the prophet and to say, "Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people." [2109] Though they are wrapped in profound silence and lie stunned by their misfo…
2,429 wordsSECTION 1176. We can escape now. While we can, let us lift ourselves from the fall: let us never despair of ourselves, if only we depart from evil. Jes
6. We can escape now. While we can, let us lift ourselves from the fall: let us never despair of ourselves, if only we depart from evil. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. "O come, let us worship and fall down; let us weep before Him." [2149] The Word Who invited us to repentance calls aloud, "Come unto me all ye …
818 wordsSECTION 118Letter XLVII. [2157]
Letter XLVII. [2157] To Gregory. [2158] "Who will give me wings like a dove? [2159] Or how can my old age be so renewed that I can travel to your affection, satisfy my deep longing to see you, tell you all the troubles of my soul, and get from you some comfort in my affliction? For when the blessed bishop Eusebius [2160] fell …
795 wordsSECTION 119Letter XLVIII. [2163]
Letter XLVIII. [2163] To Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata [2164] . I have had considerable difficulty in finding a messenger to convey a letter to your reverence, for our men are so afraid of the winter that they can hardly bear even to put their heads outside their houses. We have suffered from such a very heavy fall of snow that…
757 wordsSECTION 120Letter L. [2172]
Letter L. [2172] To Bishop Innocentius. [2173] Whom, indeed, could it better befit to encourage the timid, and rouse the slumbering, than you, my godly lord, who have shewn your general excellence in this, too, that you have consented to come down among us, your lowly inferiors, like a true disciple of Him Who said, "I am amon…
1,188 wordsSource & rights
Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.