Basil: letters, hexaemeron - II. WORKS
21 The Ben. note points out the St. Basil refers to the repudiation of a lawful wife from some other cause than adultery. It remarks that though Basil does not order it to be punished as severely as adultery there is no doubt that he would not allow communion before the dismissal of the unlawful wife. It proceeds "illud autem difficilius est stature, quid de matrimonio post ejectam uxorem adulteram contracto senserit. Ratum a Basilio habitum fuisse ejusmodi matrimonium pronuntiat Aristentus. At que id quidem Basilius, conceptis verbis non declarat; sed tamen videtur hac in re a saniori ac meliori sententia discessisse. Nam 10 macitum injuste dimissum ab alio matrimonio non excludit, ut vidimus in canonibus 9 et 35). Porro non videtur jure dimittenti denegasse, quod injuste dimisso concedebat. 20 Cum jubeat uxorem adulteram ejici, vix dubium est quin matrimonium adulterio uxoris fuisset mariti, ac multo durior, quam uxoris conditio, si nec adulteram retinere, necaliam ducere integrum fuisset.
22 cf. Letter clx. p. 212.
23 The Ben. note is Prima specie non omnio perspicuum est utrum sorores ex utroque parente intelligat, an tantum ex alterutro. Nam cum in canone 79 eos qui suas nurus accipiunt non severius puniat, quam cui cum sorore ex matre vel ex patre rem habent, forte videri posset idem statuere deiis qui in novercas insaniunt. Sed tamen multo probbailus est eamdem illis poenam imponi, ac iis qui cum sorore ex utroque parente contaminantur. Non enim distinctione utitur Basilius ut in canone 75; nec mirum si peccatum cum noverca gravius quam cum nuru, ob factam patri injuriam, judicavit.
24 i.e. probably only into the place of standers. Zonaras and Balsamon understand by polygamy a fourth marriage; trigamy being permitted (cf. Canon 50,p. 240) though discouraged. The Ben. annotator dissents, pointing out that in Canon 4,Basil calls trigamy, polygamy, and quoting Gregory of Nazianzus (Orat. 31) as calling a third marriage paranomiva. Maran confirms this opinion by the comparison of the imposition on polygamy of the same number of years of penance as are assigned to trigamy in Canon 4,"Theodore of Canterbury a.d. 687 imposes a penance of seven years on trigamists but pronounces the marriages valid (Penitential, lib. 1. c. 14,§ 3). Nicephorus of Constantinople, a.d. 814, suspends trigamists for five years. (Hard. Concil. tom. 4,p. 1052). Herard of Tours, a.d. 858 declares any greater number of wives than two to be unlawful (Cap cxi). ibid. tom. 4,p. 1052) Leo the Wise, Emperor of Constantinople, was allowed to marry three wives without public remonstrance, but was suspended from communion by the patriarch Nicholas when he married a fourth. This led to a council being held at Constantinople, a.d. 920, which finally settled the Greek discipline on the subject of third and fourth marriages. It ruled that the penalty for a fourth marriage was to be excommunication and exclusion from the church; for a third marriage, if a man were forty years old, suspension for five years, and admission to communion thereafter only on Easter day. If he were thirty years old, suspension for four years, and admission to communion thereafter only three times a year.." Dict. Christ. Ant.. 2,p. 1104.
25 The Ben. n. thinks that the Fathers of Ancyra are meant, whose authority seems to have been great in Cappadocia and the adjacent provinces).
26 metanoiva"). cf. note on p. 256; here the word seems to include both repentance and penance.
1 Placed in 375.
2 i.e. the inhabitants of the Roman province of Asia). cf. Ac 20,4). Asianoi; de; Tuciko;" kai; Trovfimo:.
3 Corydalla, now Hadginella, is on the road between Lystra and Patara. There are ruins of a theatre). cf. Plin. 5,25.
4 Now Phineka.
5 (So the Ben. ed. Other readings are eAEn Kuvroi" and eAEn Nuvroi". On Myra cf. Ac 27,5, on which Conybeare and Howson refer to Fellows’ Asia Minor, p. 194 and Spratt and Forbes’s Lycia.
6 Afterwards bishop of Myra, and as such at Constantinople 381, Labbe I, 665.
7 cf. Ac 21,1.
8 At Constantinople in 381.
9 Now Marci, where the ruins are remarkable).
1 Placed in 375.
2 (Sg 11,20 Sg 11,
3 cf. Mt 6,13.
4 cf. 1Co 10,13.
5 cf. Ps 80,5.
6 cf. Homer of (Eri", Il. 4,442:
h( tj oAElivgh me;n prw`ta koruvssetai, auAEta;r e[peita
ouAEranw` eAEsthvrixe kavrh kai; eAEpi; cqoni; baivnei.
1 Placed in 375.
2 The Syrian Beraea, Aleppo, or Haleb). cf. Letter clxxxv. p. 222).
3 (Is 40,6, 8.
1 Placed in 375.
1 Placed in 375.
2 The Syrian Chaecis, now Kinesrin. Maran Vit. Bas. Chap 33,supposes this letter to have been probably carried with Letter ccxxi. by Acacius.
3 Maran Vit. Bas. 50,c. says that these words cannot refer to the persecution of Valens in Cappadocia in 371, for that persecution went on between Constantinople and Cappadocia, and did not start from the East. There need be no surprise, he thinks, at the two preceding letters containing no mention of this persecution, because Acacius, who was a native of Bera, would be sure to report all that he had observed in Cappadocia. I am not sure that the reference to a kind of prairie fire spreading from the East does not rather imply a prevalence of heresy than what is commonly meant by persecution. Meletius, however, was banished from Antioch in 374 and Eusebius from Samosata in the same year, as graphically described by Theodoret H. E. 4,13).
4 kauvswna). cf. Mt 20,12. Lc 12,55, and James 1,11.
1 Placed in 375.
2 On the mutual relations of Basil and Eustathius up to this time, cf). Prolegomena
3 (Qo 3,7 Qo 3,
4 (Jb 3,1, seqq.
5 (Ps 38,14 Ps 38,
6 cf). h J sukofantiva perifevrei sofovn. Qo 7,S, LXX). Calumnia conturbat sapientem et perdet robur cordis illius. Vulg.
7 (Jr 4,5, LXX.
8 (Is 42,14, LXX).
9 (Ps cxxiv. 5, LXX.
10 (Ps cxxiv. 3, 4, LXX.
11 (1Co 2,6 1Co 2,
12 Al. deep.
13 (2Co 11,27 2Co 11,
14 cf. He 11,13.
15 cf. Ph 3,20.
16 (2Co 4,10 2Co 4,
17 With St. Basil’s too great readiness to believe in Eustathius because of his mean garb contrast Augustine De Serm. Dom. "Animadvertendum est non in solo rerum corporearum nitore atque pompa, sed etiam in ipsis sordibus lutosis esse possee jactantiam, et eo periculosiorem quo sub nomine servitutis Dei decipit."
18 i.e. Apollinarius). cf. Letters 130,p. 198, and ccxxiv.
19 i.e. Silvanus of tarsus). cf. Letters 34,p. 136, and lxvii. p. 164.
20 I have not been able to identify Eusinoe. There was an Eusene on the north coast of Pontus). i.e. in 364, the year after St. Basil’s ordination as presbyter, and the publication of his work against Eunomius. The Council of Lampsacus, at which Basil was not present, repudiated the Creeds of Ariminum and Constantinople (359 and 360), and reasserted the 2d dedication Creed of Antioch of 341. Maran dates it 364 (vit. Bas. x)..
21 cf. Ez 18,20.
22 cf. p. 3, n.
23 aAEfevlkontai. So the Harl). ms. for eAEfevlkontai. On the sense which may be applied to either verb cf. Valesius on Am. Marcellinus 18,2, whom the Ben. Ed. point out to be in error in thinking that Basil’s idea is of drawing a curtain or veil over the proceedings, and Chrysostom Hom. liv). in Matt). jEpi; toi`" dikastai`", o(tan dhmosiva krinwsi, ta; parapetavsmata sunelkuvsante" oi J parestw`te" pa`sin aAEntou;" deiknuvousi. This meaning of drawing so as to disclose is confirmed by Basil’s pavndhmoi pa`si gignontai in this passage and in Hom. in Ps. xxxii.
24 The Ben. note compares the praise bestowed on Candidianus by Gregory of Nazianzus for trying cases in the light of day (Ep. cxciv) and Am. Marcellinus 17,1, who says of Julian, Numerium Narconensis paulo ante rectorem, accusatum ut furem, inusitato censorio vigore pro tribunali palam admissis volentibus audiebat.
25 .e. Apoilinarius.
26 Though this phrase commonly means the reigning emperor, as in Letter lxvi., the Ben. note has no doubt that in this instance the reference is to Euzoius. In Letter ccxxvi. § 3). q.v., Basil mentions reconciliation with Euzoius as the real object of Eustathius’s hostility. Euzoius was now in high favour with Valens.
1 Placed in 375.
2 (Mt 19,7).
3 cf. Mt 23,24.
4 cf. Letter 130,p. 198.
5 cf. Mt 7,4.
6 i.e. Letter ccxxiii.
7 cf. 2Co 2,8).
1 Placed in 375.
2 Vicar of Pontus. It is doubtful whether he is the same Demosthenes who was at Caesarea with Valens in 371,, of whom the amusing story is told in Theodoret Hist. Ecc. 4,16, on which see note. If he is, it is not difficult to understand his looking with no friendly eye on Basil and his brother Gregory. He summoned a synod to Ancyra in the close of 375 to examine into alleged irregularities in Gregory’s consecration and accusations of embezzlement. The above letter is to apologize for Gregory’s failing to put in an appearance at Ancyia, and to rebut the charges made against him. Tillemont would refer Letter 33,to this period. Maran Vit. Bas. 12,5 connects it with the troubles following on the death of Caesarius in 369.
3 Saepe vicario Basilius in hac epistola leniter insinuat, res ecclesiasticas illius judicii non esse." Ben. Note.
4 From Letter ccxxxvii. it would appear that Deomsthenes was now in Galatia, where he had summoned a heretical synod. The Ben. note quotes a law of Valens of the year 373 (Cod. Theod. 9,(Tit. i. 10): Ultra provincioe terminos accusandi licentia non progrediatur. Opertet enim illic criminum judicia agitari ubi facinus dicatur admissum. Peregrina autem judicia praesentibus legibus coercemus.
1 Placed in 375).
2 cf. Jn 7,51.
3 The events referred to happened ten years before the date assigned for this letter, when the Semi-Arians summoned Eudoxius to Lampsacus, and sentenced him to deprivation in his absence. (Soc). H.E. 4,2–4; Soz). H.E. 6,7). On the refusal of Valens to ratify the deposition and ultimate banishment of the Anti-Eudoxians, Eustathius went to Rome to seek communion with Liberius, subscribed the Nicene Confession, and received commendatorry letters from Liberius to the Easterns. Soc). H. E. 4,12. Eudoxius died in 370.
4 On the action of Eustathius on this occasion, cf. Letter ccli. Basilides is described as a Paphlagonian. On Ecdicius, intruded by Demosthenes into the see of Paranassus, cf. Letter ccxxxvii.
5 (So the Ben. ed. for mevcri nu`n, with the idea that the action of Eusthathius in currying favour with the Catholics of Amasea and Zela by opposing the Arian bishops occupying those sees, must have taken place before he had quite broken with Basil. Tillemont (ix. 236) takes nu`n to mean 375. Amasea and Zela (in Migne erroneously Zeli. On the name, see Ramsay’s Hist. Geog. Asia M. 260) are both on the Iris.
6 A chorepiscopus; not of course to be confounded with Eustathius of Sebaste).
7 cf. note on p. 265.
8 i.e. after their return from Rome, and another Synod in Sicily, in 367.
9 (2Tm 2,7 2Tm 2,
10 (Ep 4,5 Ep 4,
11 sunavfeia). cf. note on p. 16.
12 (Ph 4,5 and 6.
13 (Mt 12,37 Mt 12,
14 cf. Letter ccx. p. 249.
15 cf. 1 Thess. 4,11).
1 Placed in 375.
2 i.e. in Armenia). cf. Letter cxcv. p. 234. The removal of Euphronius to Nicopolis was occasioned by the death of Theodotus and the consecration of Fronto by the Eustathians, to whom the orthodox Colonians would not submit.
3 (Rm 13,10 Rm 13,
4 cf. Rm 13,2.
1 Of the same date as the preceding).
1 Placed in 375.
2 On Poemenius, bishop of Satala in Armenia). cf. p. 185.
3 i.e. Theodotus). cf. Letter cxxi. and 130,pp. 193 and 198.
1 Of the same date as the preceding).
2 tou` kalou`, or "the good man:" i.e. Euphronius.
3 (Tt 1,9). cf. 1Tm 1,15; 1Tm 3,1; 2Tm ii, 11; and Tt 3,8.
1 Placed in 375.
2 It is doubtful whether this Elpidius is to be identified with any other of the same name mentioned in the letters.
3 On the withdrawal of Gregory of Nyssa, cf. note, p. 267.
4 Doara was one of the bishoprics in Cappadocia Secunda under Tyana; now Hadji Bektash. Ramsay, Hist. Geog. Asia Minor p. 287.
5 i.e. Demosthenes. Such language may seem inconsistent with the tone of Letter ccxxv., but that, it will be remembered, was an official and formal document, while the present letter is addressed to an intimate friend.
1 Placed in 376. Maran, Vit. Bas. xxxv., thinks that this letter is to be placed either in the last days of 375, if the Nativity was celebrated on December 25, or in the beginning of 376, if it followed after the Ephphany. The Oriental usage up to the end of the fourth century, was to celebrate the Nativity and Baptism on January 6. St. Chrysostom, in the homily on the birthday of our Saviour, delivered c. 386, speaks of the separation of the celebration of the Nativity from that of the Ephphany as comparatively recent). cf D. C. A., 1, pp. 361, 617
2 i.e the incarnation). cf. pp. 7 and 12, n).
3 The reading of the Ben ed. is lamphnw`n. The only meaning of lamphvnh in Class. Greek is a kind of covered carriage, and the cognate adj). lauphvniko" is used for the covered waggons of Nb 7,3 in the LXX. But the context necessitates some such meaning as lamp or candle. Ducange s.v. quotes Jn de Janua "Lampenae sunt stellae fulgentes." cf. Italian Lampana i.e. lamp.
1 Placed in 376.
2 St. Basil’s word may point either at the worshippers of a golden image in a shrine in the ordinary sense, or at the state of things where, as A. H. Clough has it, "no golden images may be worshipped except the currency."
3 cf. Ga 5,19, 20, 21.
4 h J auAEtoalhvqeia.
5 (1Co 13,10).
1 Placed in 376.
2 (He 11,6 He 11,
3 (Jn 1,18 Jn 1,
4 aAEgennhsiva). cf). Prolegomena on the Books against Eunomius, and p. 39. n.
5 cf. Mt 9,28.
1 Placed in 376).
2 cf. Rom 1,20.
3 A various reading gives the sense "but do not know what is beyond my comprehension."
4 (1Co 13,9 1Co 13,
5 (1Co 13,10 1Co 13,
6 (Ga 3,1 Ga 3,
7 (Ga 4,9 Ga 4,
8 (Is 1,3 Is 1,
9 (Is 1,3 Is 1,
10 (Ps lxxix. 6.
11 Referred by the Ben. Ed. to Ex 25,21 and 22. The first clause is apparently introduced from Ex 16,34.
12 (2Tm 2,19 2Tm 2,
13 (Gn 4,1 Gn 4,
14 (Gn 24,16 Gn 24,
15 (Lc 1,34).
1 This letter is also dated in 376, and treats of further subjects not immediately raised by the De Spiritu Sancto: How the prediction of Jermiah concerning Jeconiah; Of an objection of the Encratites; Of fate; Of emerging in baptism; Of the accentuation of the word favgo"; Of essence and hypostasis; Of the ordaining of things neutral and indifferent.
2 (Mc 13,32 Mc 13,
3 (Mc 10,18). i.e. in Adv. Eumon. iv). vide Proleg.
4 The manuscripts at this point are corrupt and divergent.
5 (Mt 11,27 Mt 11,
6 (Mt 24,36 Mt 24,
7 (1Co 1,24 1Co 1,
8 (Mt 24,6 Mt 24,
9 (Jn 4,7 Jn 4,
10 cf). Ep. cclxi. 2. The reference is to the system of Apollinarius, which denied to the Son a yucchv logikhv or reasonable soul.
11 oi;konomikw`", i.e. according to the oecconomy of the incarnation). cf. note on p. 7.
12 (Lc 2,52 Lc 2,
13 (Mt 24,36 Mt 24, V. in this passage inserts "Neither the Son," on the authority of §, B. D. Plainly St. Basil knew no such difference of reading. On the general view taken by the Fathers on the self-limitation of the Saviour, cf. C. Gore’s Bampton Lectures (vi. p. 163, and notes 48 and 49, p. 267)
14 (Mc 13,32 Mc 13,
15 (Jn 16,15 Jn 16,
16 (Jn 10,15 Jn 10,
17 (Jr 22,28-30, LXX.
18 (Gn 49,10 Gn 49,
19 (Is 11,10 Is 11, LXX. is kai; o Jnistavmeno" a[rcein eAEqnw`n.
20 (Is 42,6, and 2R 7,13 2R 7,
21 (Gn 22,18).
22 Amphilochius’s doubt may have arisen from the fact that fagov", the Doric form of fhgov", the esculent oak of Homer, is oxytone.
23 "aAEsuvgcuto"," unconfounded, or without confusion, is the title of Dialogue II. of Theodoret). cf. p. 195. n.
24 The Benedictine note is Videtur in Harlaeano codice scriptum prima manu ei;" to;n qeovn. Their reading is ei" to; qei`on pneu`ma to; a[gion). cf). Ep. viii., § 2, where no variation of mss. is noted and Ep. cxli, both written before he was bishop). cf). Proleg. Gregory of Nazianzus, Or. xliii., explains the rationale of St. Basil’s use of the word "God," of the Holy Ghost; alike in his public and private teaching he never shrank from using it, whenever he could with impunity, and his opinions were perfectly well known, but he sought to avoid the sentence of exile at the hands of the Arians by its unnecessary obtrusion. He never uses it in his homily De Fide, and the whole treatise De Spiritu Sancto, while it exhaustively vindicates the doctrine, ingeniously steers clear of the phrase.
25 provswpa.
26 The Ben. Edd. note "Existimat Combefisius verbum metaschmativzeoqai sic reddendum esse, in various formas mutari. Sed id non dicebat Sabellius. Hoc tantum dicebat, ut legimus in Epist. ccxiv. Unum quidem hypostasi Deum esse, sed sub diveris personis a Scripturare praesentari. According to Dante the minds of the heresiarchs were to Scripture as had mirrors, reflecting distorted images; and, in this sense, metaschmatizein might be applied rather to them.
"(Si fe Sabellio ed Arro e quegli stolti,
Che furon come spade alle scritture
In render torti li dir itti volti."
Par. xiii. 123 (see (Cary’s note).
27 eAEx oi1konomiva". In Ep. xxxi. Basil begins a letter to Eusebius of Samosata: "The dearth has not yet left us, we are therefore compelled still to remain in the town, either for stweardship’s sake or for sympathy with the afflicted." Here the Benedictines’ note is Saepe apud Basilium oikonomiva dicitur id quod pauperibus distribuitur. Vituperat in Comment. in Is praesules qui male patram peouniam accipiunt vel ad suos usus, h] eAEpi; lovgw th`" tw`n ptwceuovntwn eAEn th` jEkklhsiva olkonomiva", vel per causam distribuendi pauperibus Ecclesiae. In epistola 92 Orientales inter mala Ecclesiae illud etiam deplorrant quod ambitiosi praesules oiAEkonom as a" ptwcwn, pecunias pauperibus destinatas in suos usus convertant).
1 Placed in 376.
2 paroikiva.cf. p. 163, n.
3 i.e. at Ancyra.
4 i.e. at Parnassus. Parnassus is placed by Ramsay at a ford a few miles higher up the Halys than Tchikin Aghyl. (Hist Geog. of Asia Minor, p. 255).
5 f. Ac 9,1.
6 fulokrinw`n. The word occurs also in the De Sp. S. § 74, and in Letter cciv. § 2. Another reading in this place is filokrinw`n, "picking out his friends."
7 Mansi 3,502. The fruitlessness of Ancyra necessitated a second. On Gregory’s deposition and banishment, see Greg. Nyss., De Vit Macr. 2,192, and Ep. 18,and xxii. Also Greg. Naz., Ep. cxlii.
8 Tillemont supposes this to refer to some one sent on a visitation to the Churches. The Ben. note prefers to apply it to the unknown intruder into the see of Nyssa, of whom Basil speaks with yet greater contempt in Letter ccxxxix.
9 i.e. Fronto.
1 Placed in 376.
2 On the appointment of Fronto to succeed Theodotus).
3 (Ps 91,1, LXX.
4 (Ha 2,3 Ha 2,
1 Placed in 376.
2 jIoudai[kh`" a Jlwvsew", which the Ben. note is no doubt right in referring to the events of 70.
3 The sudden change from the vaguer plural marks thestrong contempt of the writer for the individual pointed at.
4 The paronomasia in a[ndra and aAEndravpodon is untranslatable.
5 Sanctissimus, the envoy of Damasus, seems to have paid two visits to the East. For letters of introduction given him by Basil, see Letters cxx., ccxxi., ccxxv., ccliv., cxxxii., and ccliii.
6 Homer, Il. 9,695–5 (Chapman)).
7 cf. Letter 69,p. 165.
1 Placed in 376.
2 cf. He 12,4.
3 katexavnqh). cf. the use of kataxaivnw (=card or comb) in the Letter of the Smyrneans on the Martyrdom of Polycarp, § 2 on the difference between the persecution of the Catholics by Valens and that of the earlier Christians by earlier emperors, though exile and confiscation were suffered in Basil’s time.
4 cf. Ac 5,41).
5 coistevmporoi). cf. the use of the cognate subst). cristem popiva in the letter of Alexander of Alexandria in Theodoret, Ecc. Hist. 1,3). cristevmpopo" occurs in the Didache, § 12, and in the Pseud. Iq., eg., ad Mag. ix.
6 i;ereu`si). cf. note in Letter 54,p. 157.
7 cf. Mt 4,24.
1 Placed in 376.
1 Placed in 376.
2 This and the following letter refer to the earlier of two missions of Dorotheus to the West. In the latter he carried Letter cclxiii. The earlier was successful at least to the extent of winning sympathy. Maran (Vit. Bas. cap. xxxv). places it not earlier than the Easter of 376, and objects to the earlier date assigned by Tillemont.
3 (Ps 69,20 Ps 69,
4 (1Co 12,26 1Co 12,
5 Valens began the thirteenth year of his reign in the March of 376, and this fact is one of Maran’s reasons for placing this letter where he does. Tillemont reckons the thirteen ears from 361 to 374, but Maran points out that if the Easterns had wanted to include the persecution of Constantius they might have gone farther back, while even then the lull under Julian would have broken the continuity of the attack). Vit. Bas. 35,cf. note on p. 48.
6 A rhetorical expression not to be taken literally. Some of the enormities committed under Valens). e.g. the alleged massacre of the Orthodox delegates off Bithynia in 370 (Soz. 6,14. Theod. 4,21), would stand out even when matched with the cruelties perpetrated under Nero and Diocletioan, if the evidence fro them were satisfactory). cf. Milman, Hist Christ. 3,45. The main difference between the earlier persecutions, conventionally reckoned as ten, and the persecution of the Catholics by Valens, seems to be this, that while the former were a putting in force of the law against a religio non licita, the latter was but the occasional result of the personal spite and partizanship of the imperial heretic and his courtiers. Valens would feel bitterly towards a Catholic who thwarted him. Basil could under Diocletian hardly have died in his bed as archbishop of Caesarea).
1 Placed in 376.
2 (1Co 12,21 1Co 12,
3 i.e. Gratian, who succeeded Valentinian I. in 375).
4 For the midnight banishment). cf. the story of the expulsion of Eusebisu from Samosata in Theod. 4,13. Of death following on exile Basil did not live to see the most signal instance - that of Chrysostom n 407.
5 cf. Da 3,10. The whips seem as rhetorical as the image and the flame.
6 (Am 8,10 Am 8,
7 eAEpi tai`" suvnaxeoi kai` th` koinwniva tw`n pneumatikw`n xapismavtwn.
8 Song of the Three Children, 14.
9 (Is 49,15 Is 49,
10 (Rm 8,18 Rm 8,
11 paroikiva. The word seems here to have a wider sense even than that of "diocese."
12 cf. 2 Cor. 4,6.
13 cf. Ps 73,8, LXX).
14 (Jr 9,1 Jr 9,
15 I suggest this rendering of propompai; tw`n eAExodeuovntwn with hesitation, and feel no certainty about the passage except that the Ben. tr., "deductiones proficiscentium," and its defence in the Ben. note, is questionable. The escort of a bishop on a journey is quite on a different plane from the ministrations which Basil has in mind). propompaia; is used by Chrysostom of funerals, and Combefis explains "excedentium deductae fune bres, deducta funera;" but the association of ideas seems to necessitate some reference to the effect of vicious teaching on the living. There may be an indirect allusion to the effect on the friends at a funereal, but to take eAExodeuovntwn to mean "the dying" seems the simplest). eAExodeuqeiv" is used of Sisera in Judges 5,27, LXX). cf. p. 180 n., where perhaps this rendering might be substituted, an Canon bright on Canon xiii of Nicaea.
1 Placed in 376.
2 "Aigaiai is the more correct form." Ramsay, Hist Geog. A.M. 116. In the gulf of Issus, now Ayas. St Julianus, son of a senator of Anazarbus, is said to have suffered there. (Basil, Menol. and, possibly, Chrysost., Hom. in Jul. Mart.)
3 (Dt 1,17).
4 i.e. the formula proposed to Eustathius by Basil, and signed in 373 by him with Fronto, Serverus, and others, and appearing as Lettter cxxv.
5 i.e. Eustathius.
6 cf). Letter cxxx.
7 Theophilus of Castabala.
8 cf. Letter 130,The journey of Eustathius to Cilicia was the occasion of his presenting an Arian creed to a certain Gelasius.
9 cf. Letter ccxxvi. The letter of repudiation was conveyed by Eustathius the chorepiscopus.
10 Fragments of Apollinarius are extant in the works of Theodoret and Gregory of Nyssa, and in Mai’s Script. Vet. Nov. col. 7,, and Spicil. Rom. 10,2). cf. Thomasius, Christ. Dogm. 451). cf). Ep. ccixiii. p. 302.
11 Diodorus now presbyter of Antioch, did not become bishop of Tarsus till about the time of Basil’s death. On his services to the Church at Antioch, cf. Theod., H. E. 2,19. and Soc., H. E. 6,8. The controversy as to his alleged Nestorianism belongs to a later date. On the relations between Diodorus and Apollinarius, cf. Dorner, Christ. i. pp. 976 and 1022).
12 In Letter 131,the name appears as Dazinas, or Dexinas. in this place the mss. agree in the form Dazizas.
13 ? The Creed of Arminum.
14 Eustathius, Silvanus, and Theophilus went to Rome after the Lampsacene Council of 365.
15 The Synod of Tyana had been ready to recognise the Eustathians as Catholics in 374. The Semi-Arian Council of Cyzicus was held in 375 or 376 (Mansi 3,469).
16 i.e. at Constantinople in 360.
17 cf. Letter ccxxviii.
18 cf. Jr 1,10).
19 The Ben. note on this passage suggests that the reference to Jermiah is an argument supposed to be put forward by Eustathius, and immediately answered by Basil, but there seems no necessity of this. Basil says nothing for or against the powers of the bishops who condemned Eustathius; he only points out the inconsistency of Eustathius in accepting their powers to ordain when it suited his purpose, while he refused to admit their authority to depose. It is enough for Basil’s argument that Eustathius treated him as having authority. On Basil’s own views as to the validity of heretical ordination, cf. Canon I., Letter clxxxviii.
20 .e. bishops and presbyters whose spiritual descent is to be traced to Euippius, viz.: Eustathius and his clergy. Over what see Euippius presided is unknown.
21 (Ps 17,3 and 4, LXX.
22 Constrast the famous appeal of Antigone in Soph., Ant. 454 to the eternal principles of right and wrong; ouAE gavr ti nu`n ge kacqe;", aAEllj aAEeiv pote zh` tau`ta kouAEdei;" ai\den eAEx o(tou jfavnh. The Christian saint can make the more personal reference to the aAEyeude;" stovma.
23 cf. Jude 12.
24 cf. Letter lxxxi. p. 172. Hermogenes was bishop of Caesarea, in which see he preceded Dianius. He acted as secretary at Nicaea, when yet a deacon. "The actual creed was written out and read, perhaps in consideration of Hosius’ ignorance of Greek, by Hermogenes." (Stanley, Eastern Church, p. 140, ed. 1862).
25 In 358, when the o@moiouvsion was accepted.
26 In 359, when the Semiarians supported the Antiochene Dedication Creed of 341.
27 In 360, when the Acacians triumphed, and Eustathius with other Semiarians were deposed. The Creed of Ariminum, as revised at Nike, was accepted.
28 In 364, when the Creeds of Ariminum and Constantinople were condemned by the Semiarians, and the Dedication Creed was reaffirmed.
29 The Creed of Nike in Thrace was the Creed of Arminum revised, and it seems out of order to mention it after Lampsacus.
30 In 375 or 6. This is the formula referred to in Letter cci. 4, as the latest. On the variety of Creeds, cf. p. 48, n).
1 Placed in 376.
2 i.e. of Castabala, who had accompanied Eustathius to Rome, and was closely associated with him). cf. p. 198.
3 diakomivsai. Two mss. have diakonh`sai.
1 Placed in 376.
1 Placed in 376.
2 It is rare to find in Basil’s letters even so slight an allusion as this to the general affairs of the empire. At or about the date of this letter the Goths, hitherto kept in subjection by the legions of Valens, were being driven south by the Huns and becoming a danger to the empire. Amm. Marc. xxxi. 4). Turbido instantium studio, orbis Romani pernicies decebatur.
1 Placed in 376.
2 f. 2Co 12,7.
3 The word katakondulivzw374 type=foot here used (it occurs in Aeschines) is a synonym, slightly strengthened, for the kolafizw of St. Paul. St. Basil seems plainly to have the passage quoted in his mind.
4 I have failed to find further mention of theis Asclepius. An Asclepius of Cologne is commemorated on June 30.
1 Placed in 376.
1 Placed in 376.
2 i.e. with Euzoius, Eudoxius, and the more pronounced Arians.
3 tw`n e Jterodidaskalouvntwn). cf. i Tim. I. 3. The Ben. note compares Greg., Orat. 12,203).
1 Placed in 376.
2 Euassai. Possibly Ptolemy’s Seivona. Ramsay, Hist. Geog. A. M. 304. Now Yogounes, i.e). (Agios jIwavnnh".
3 (Mt 5,12 Mt 5,
4 (Ps 109,5 Ps 109,
5 i.e. in January 360. Soc. 2,41–43; Soz. 4,24.
6 The Synod of Lampsacus in 365 is probably referred to, but Socrates (v. 14) mentions several synods of the Homoiousians.
7 i.e. the deposition.
8 Of uncertain see.
9 A ms. variety is "to me."
10 qusiasthvria.
11 i.e. Basilides, bishop of Gangra). cf. Letter ccxxvi. p. 268.
12 trapezw`n.
13 i.e. the Arian bishop of Amasia, who was intruded into the place of Eulalius. On the state of the Amasene church at his time, cf. Soz. 7,2).
14 cf. Letter ccxxvi. p. 268.
15 cf). De Sp. S. 12,p. 18.
16 cf. Ps 51,12, LXX.
17 (Mt 12,31, 32.
1 Placed in 376.
2 In the title the word dioivkhsi" is used in its oldest ecclesiastical sense of a patriarchal jurisdiction commensurate with the civil diocese, which contained several provinces). cf. the Ixth Canon of Chalcedon, which gives an appeal from the metropolitan, the head of the province, to the exarch of the "diocese." "The title exarch is here applied to the primate of a group of provincial churches, as it had been used by Ibas, bishop of Edema, at his trial in 448; alluding to the ’Eastern Council’ which had resisted the council of Ephesus, and condemned Cyril, he said. ’I followed my exarch,’ meaning Jn of Antioch (Mansi 7,237; compare Evagrius 4,11, using ’patriarchs’ and ’exarchs’ synonymously). Reference is here made not to all such prelates, but to the bishops of Ephesus, Caesarea in Cappadocia, and Heraclea, if, as seems possible, the see of Heraclea still nominally retained its old relation to the bishop of Thrace." Bright, Canons of the First Four Gn Councils, pp. 156, 157.
The Pontic diocese was on of Constantine’s thirteen civil divisions.
3 cf. p. 184, n). cf). Proleg. Eupsychius, a noble bridegroom of Caesarea, was martyred under Julian for his share in the demolition of the temple of Fortune. Soz. 5,11). cf. Greg. Naz., Ep. ad Bas. 58,September 7 was the day of the feast at Caesarea.
1 Placed in 376.
2 This and the tree following letters are complimentary and consolatory epistles conveyed by Sanctissimus on his return to Rome. It does not appear quite certain whether they are to be referred to the period of his return from his second journey to the East in 376, or that of his earlier return in 374). cf. Letters 120,and ccxxi).
1 Placed in 376.
2 cf. Letter xcii. p. 177. On Pelagius bishop of the Syrian Laodicea, see Theod., H.E. iv. 13 and 5,8. Philostorg., H.E. 5,1. Sozomen, H.E. 6,12, and 7,9.
Basil: letters, hexaemeron - II. WORKS