By CAROLE BRESLIN
Part 1
While there are more than 30 doctors of the Catholic Church, only a handful have the honor of being called “Great.” Among these are St. Leo the Great (died 461), St. Albert the Great, who taught St. Thomas Aquinas (died 1280), and St. Gregory the Great, father of the medieval papacy (died 604). Many people are referring to Pope St. John Paul II as great.
A man, brilliant but humble, who fought the Arian heresy in the early days of the Church, St. Basil is also called “the Great.”
Basil grew up surrounded by saints. His grandmother, St. Macrina the elder, and his grandfather, who was martyred for the faith, lost all of their wealth and stature among their peers for their faithfulness to Christ. His father, St. Basil the Elder, and his mother, St. Emmelia, had ten children. One of them died at a young age, but the other four sons and five daughters grew up in the holiness of the Church.
Born in 329 in Cappadocia, now Turkey, Basil was the oldest of the boys while his sister St. Macrina the Younger was the eldest of the daughters. Two of his brothers are also recognized as saints by the Church: St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Peter of Sebaste. The conversation of this household centered on Christian practice and doctrine.
From the beginning, St. Basil’s mother told people her son was an answer to prayers. Not only did they conceive and bear a son, but when he was still an infant he developed a fever and nearly died. Once again prayers were answered as the fever abated and the tiny boy recovered.
Basil’s education began in his very early years with his grandmother, St. Macrina the Elder, teaching him in a country house near Neo-Caesarea in Pontus. Basil praised her for the rest of his earthly life, claiming that her holy instruction and saintly example had left a lasting impression on him.
St. Basil’s father, widely known for his great rhetoric, taught Basil the skills of speech and debate as a youth. Basil quickly learned from the literature his father gave him, as well gaining from him the eloquence that touches the hearts of audiences.
The example of his grandmother and the instruction of his father served him well when he was sent to school in the city of Caesarea Mazaca, also known as Caesarea of Cappadocia. He quickly surpassed all of his peers in every subject. More important, his piety was far above that of his fellow students.
His eloquence and knowledge came to the attention of a man who was known to be the greatest orator in the world. This man sat in amazement as he listened to Basil speak, wondering how such a young man could speak with such great skill and deep understanding of the most complicated subjects.
While studying in Cappadocia, he met St. Gregory Nazianzus. Their common love of prayer and doctrine as well as their yearning to seek only the will of God made them fast friends. Together they moved to Constantinople around 350 once they had mastered everything they could in Cappadocia.
He only stayed in Constantinople a short time, quickly mastering all that he could. He also met the emperor, Julian the Apostate. In 352 he left for Athens, thirsting for even more learning.
He was overjoyed to meet his old friend, St. Gregory, at Athens. Providentially, St. Gregory was able to shield St. Basil from many of the torments that newcomers to Athens usually suffered.
As they studied and prayed together, their friendship grew even stronger. Together they consecrated themselves entirely to God, promising to love Him as taught in the Bible, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” (Luke 10:27).
They protected their virtue by prayer and mortifications, and by guarding their senses by avoiding profane entertainments.
Basil and Gregory also shunned all bad company to protect their purity. They lived together day after day, praying, working, and studying with only one objective in mind: to serve God and His Kingdom.
They would only attend those lectures which were edifying, avoiding all those which may have contained the poison of error. They realized the need to preach the truths of Christ so they especially applied themselves to perfecting their oratorical skills. They knew that the Word of God must be taught with “grandeur and dignity.” Preaching of the sacred mysteries should not be done with pompous gestures and flamboyant delivery. Such delivery would profane the sacred.
By the age of 20, St. Basil mastered a wide variety of subjects. His meditations on the six days of creation were unparalleled by any of his time. None could best him when debating the teachings of the Church. He also mastered geometry, medicine, and the sciences.
Having mastered these subjects, he emphasized meditations on Sacred Scripture and ministering to others. He left Athens in 355 to serve his own country, where he opened a school of oratory and began to practice law.
His brilliance and success brought many honors and adulation. People held him in such high esteem that he realized he must leave. His life of piety and penance led him to avoid the temptation of vanity, trembling for his soul.
This marked a great change in his life. With the support of his good friend, St. Gregory Nazianzus, and his sister, St. Macrina, Basil fled worldly temptations. In order to more perfectly serve God and live a more virtuous life, he gave away most of his estate.
Prayer and meditation helped him realize the emptiness of worldly success, seeking to find the wisdom and peace that come from God alone. The worldly sciences brought him no joy; only an increasing knowledge of God could do so.
With St. Gregory, Basil left the world and became a poor monk. He likened this endeavor to the merchant who had sold all that he had in order to purchase the pearl of great price, writing, “I wish ardently to become that happy merchant who exchanges contemptible and perishable goods for others that are excellent and eternal. But being a minister of the Gospel, I devote myself solely to the duty of preaching.”
In the next column, the story of St. Basil the Great will continue, describing his travels in his quest of perfecting monastic life as well as all that he did to establish monasteries and convents, develop the liturgy, and engage in the fight against the Arians.
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(Carole Breslin home-schooled her four daughters and served as treasurer of the Michigan Catholic Home Educators for eight years. For over ten years, she was national coordinator for the Marian Catechists, founded by Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ.)
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