THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Ca-sarea, which was used as poorhouse, hospital, and hospice.
Of Basil's writings, mention may be made (1) of the dogmatic-polemical, including the books against Eunomius of Cyzicus (q.v.) entitled " Refutation of the Apology of the Impious Eunomius," written in 363 or 304; book i controverts Arianism, books ii and iii defend the Homoousianism of the Son and the Spirit. The fourth and fifth books do not
belong to Basil, or to Apollinaris of Writings. Laodicea (q.v.), but probably to
Didymus of Alexandria (q.v.). The work " On the Holy Spirit" (ed. C. F. H. Johnston, Oxford, 1S92; transl. by G. Lewis, Christian Classics Series, iv, London, 1SSS) also treats the questions of Homoousianism. Basil influenced the fixing of the terminology of the church-doctrine of the Trinity, though as concerns dogmatic acuteness and speculative power he is far behind Athanasius and his brother Gregory (of Nyssa). (2) The ascetic works (ascetica) are religio-ethical writings which acquaint us with the man who in a high degree labored for the naturalization of monasticism in the Church, and who at the same time exerted himself to regulate it in the cenobitic form and to make it fruitful also for the religious life of the cities (cf. A. Kranich, Die Ascetik in ihrer dogmatischen Grundlage bei Basilius dem Grossen, Paderborn, 1896). Of thi monastic rules traced to Basil, the shorter is the one most probably his work (see Basilians). (3) Among the numerous homilies and orations, highly appreciated by the early Church, some like that against usury and that on the famine in 368, are valuable for the history of morals; others illustrate the worship of martyrs and relics; the address to young men on the study of classical literature shows that Basil was lastingly influenced by his own education, which taught him to appreciate the propaedeutic importance of the classics. His homilies on the Hexaemeron wTere especially valued. (4) The very numerous epistles are an important source of contemporaneous church history. His three " Canonical Epistles " give a clear idea of his efforts in behalf of churchdiscipline. (5) The liturgies bearing the name of Basil (ed. with transl. by J. N. W B. Robertson, London, 1894), in their present form, are not his work, but they nevertheless preserve the true recollection of Basil's activity in this field in formularizing liturgical prayers and promoting churchsong. (6) A fruit of Basil's studies with his friend Gregory in their monkish loneliness is, finally, the Philokalia, an anthology (florilegium) from the works of Origen (ed. J. A. Robinson, Cambridge, 1893). The best edition of Basil's works is that of J. Gamier and Prudence Maran (3 vols., Paris, 1721-30), reprinted in MPG, xxix-xxxii. The " Holy Spirit," homilies of the Hexaemeron, and letters are translated in NPNF, viii.
G. Kruger.
Bibliography: The sources, besides Basil's own works, are the eulogies of Gregory Nazianzen, Gregory of Nyssa, and Ephraem Syrus, also notices in Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, Philostorgius, and Rufinus, and in Jerome, De vir. ill., and Photius, Bibliotheca. Of the voluminous literature mention may be made of E. Fialon, Etude historique et litteraire sur St. Basile, Paris, 1869; F. Bohringer, Die Kirche Christi und ihre Zeugen, vol. vii, Stuttgart, 1875; F. Loofs, Eustathius v.on !~ebaste und die Chronologie der basilianischen Briefe, Halle, 1897. Consult also the works on patrology and history of doctrine. For the literature consult S. F. W. Hoffmann, Bibliographisch.es Lexicon der gesammten Litteratur der Griechen, i, 407— i21, Leipsic, 1838; U. Chevalier, Repertoire des sources historiques du moyen dge, Nos. 234 and 2445, Paris, 1877-88. There is a life in English by R. F. Smith, The Fathers for English Readers, London, 1881. Consult also P. Schaff, History of the Christian Church, iii, 893-903, New York, 1884; J. H. Newman's three essays on the Trials of Basil, Labours of Basil, and Basil and Gregory in vol. iii of his Historical Sketches, London, 1873; and the long article in DCB, i, 282-297.
BASIL OF SELEUCIA: Bishop of Seleucia in Isauria. He was against Eutyches at the Synod of Constantinople in 448, but for him at Ephesus in 449, and escaped deposition at Chalcedon in 451 only by again changing his vote. In 458, with the other Isaurian bishops, he gave an answer to the emperor Leo I favorable to Chalcedon and against Timotheus iElurus (cf. the document in Mansi, vii, 559-563; see Timotheus ^Elurus). His extant works are forty-one sermons in pompous style and dependent on Chrysostom (cf. Photius, cod. clxviii) and a writing on the life of St. Thecla (cf. R. A. Lipsius, Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten, ii, part 1, Brunswick, 1887, p. 426). They are in MPG, lxxxv.
G. Kruger.
Bibliography: Fabricius-Harles, Bibliotheca Grceca, ix, 90- 97, Hamburg, 1804; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, ii, passim, Eng. transl., vol. iii.
BASILIANS: Monks or nuns following the rule of St. Basil, who introduced the cenobitic life into Asia Minor, and is said to have founded the first monastery there. The rules which he gave this community connected active industry and devotional exercises in regular succession, day and night, — one meal a day, consisting of bread and water; very little sleep during the hours before midnight; prayers and singing, morning, noon, and evening; work in the fields during forenoon and afternoon; etc. These rules were further developed and completed by Basil's ascetic writings. After the separation between the Eastern and Western churches, Basil's rule became almost the exclusive regulation Qf monastic life in the Eastern Church; so that a " Basilian " simply means a monk of the Greek Church. In the Western Church the rule of Basil was afterward completely superseded by that of Benedict of Nursia. Nevertheless, Basilian monasteries, acknowledging the supremacy of the Pope, are still lingering in Sicily and in the Slavonian countries. See Basil, Saint, the Great; Monasticism.