Basil: letters, hexaemeron - II. WORKS

478 (Jr 20,2, LXX). eiAE" to;n katarAEr Javktrn o J" hAEn eAEn puvlh. KatarAEr Javkth" tw`n pulwn occurs in Dion. Halic. viii 67, in the same sense as the Latin cataracta (Livy 27,27) a portcullis. The Vulgate has in nervum, which may either be gyve or gaol. The Hebrew=stocks, as in A.V. and R.V). katarAEr Javkth" in the text of Basil and the lxx. may be assumed to mean prison, form the notion of the barred grating over the door). cf. Ducange s.v). cataracta.

479 Ez. 1,1.

480 Wis. 1,7.

481 (Ps 39,7 Ps 39,

482 (Ag 2,4, 5.

483 (Ps 8,5 Ps 8,

484 (Rm 2,10 Rm 2,

485 Rom 9,4.

486 (Ps 29,12 Ps 29,

487 (Ps 57,8 Ps 57,

488 cf. 1Co 15,41.

489 (2Co 3,9 2Co 3,

490 (2Co 3,8 2Co 3,

491 cf. Ps 21,5.

492 cf. Ps xv.

493 cf. Mt 28,19; 1Co 12,11; Rm viii 11; 1P 1,2.

494 (Mt 10,19, 20.

495 (2Co 3,17).

496 Mr. C. F. H. Johnston conjectures the allusion to be to Hom. 24,"Contra Sabellianos et Arium et Anomoeos."

497 (1Co 2,10, 11.

498 In 1Tm 6,13, St. Paul writes tou` qeou` tou` zwopoiou`nto" pavnta. In the text St. Basil writes ta; pavnta zwogonou`nto". The latter word is properly distinguished from the former as meaning not to make alive after death, but to engender alive. In Lc 17,33, it is rendered in A.V. "preserve." In Ac 7,19, it is "to the end they might not live." On the meaning of zwogonei`n in the lxx. and the Socinian arguments based on its use in Lc 17,33, cf. Pearson, On the Creed, Art. V. note to p. 257 Ed. 1676.

499 (Rm 8,11 Rm 8,

500 (Jn 10,27–28.

501 (2Co 3,6 2Co 3,

502 (Rm 8,10 Rm 8,

503 (Jn 6,63 Jn 6,

504 cf. He 6,4.

505 (Rm 7,2 Rm 7,

506 (Ac 1,8 Ac 1,

507 (Rm 8,32 Rm 8,

508 (1Co 2,12 1Co 2,

509 (Ga 4,6 Ga 4,

510 (Ps 66,13 Ps 66,

511 (Ps cv. 37.

512 (Ps 44,9 Ps 44,

513

514 In Ep 2,18 they are combined, but no Scriptural doxology uses eAEn of the Spirit.

515 (1Th 1,1 1Th 1,

516 (Mt 28,19 Mt 28,

517 (2Co 13,13 2Co 13,

518 (Rm 15,30 Rm 15,

519 "St. Basil’s statement of the reason of the use of metav suvn, in the Doxology, is not confirmed by any earlier or contemporary writer, as far as the editor is aware, nor is it contradicted." Ap C. F. H. Johnston.

520 "Sabellius has been usually assigned to the middle of third century, Mr. Clinton giving a.d. 256–270 as his active period. The discovery of the Philosophumena of Hippolytus has proved this to be a mistake, and thrown his period back to the close of the second and beginning of the third century. . . . He was in full activity in Rome during the Episcopate of Zephyrinus, a.d. 198–217." Professor Stokes in D.C. Biog. iv. 569. For Basil’s views of Sabellianism vide Epp. CCX., CCXIV., CCXXXV. In his Haer. Fab. Conf. 2,9 Theodoret writes: "Sabellius said that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were one Hypostasis; one Person under three names; and he describes the same now as Father, now as Son, now as Holy Ghost. He says that in the old Testament He gave laws as Father, was incarnate in the new as Son, and visited the Apostles as Holy Ghost." So in the Ekqesi" th`" kata; mevro" pivstew", a work falsely attributed to Gregory Thaumaturgus, and possibly due to Apollinaris, (cf. Theod., Dial. iii). "We shun Sabellius, who says that Father and Son are the same, calling Him who speaks Father, and the Word, remaining in the Father and at the time of creation manifested, and, on the completion of things returning to the Father, Son. He says the same of the Holy Ghost."

521 Apparently an inexact reference to Jn 14,23.

522 (Jn 10,30 Jn 10,

523 i.e., The Arians, who said of the Son, "There was when he was not;" and the Pneumatomachi, who made the Spirit a created being).

524 (Mt 28,19 Mt 28,

525 cf. Note on Chap I. p. 4. In the Aristotelian philosophy, ei\do", or Forma, is the to; tiv h\n ei\n ei\nai, the essence or formal cause). cf. Ar., Met. 6,7, 4). Duvnami", or Potentia, is potential action or existence, as opposed to eAEnevrgeio, actus, actual action or existence, or eAEntelevceia). cf. Ar., Met., 8,3, 9, and 8,8, 11. Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph. I. 178–180.

526 (Rm 8,12 Rm 8,

527 (Rm 8,14 Rm 8,

528 Rom 8,29.

529 (Ep 1,17, 18.

530 en a[lloi" tisi dunavmewn eAEnerghvmasi. The Benedictine translation is in aliis miraculorum operationious." It is of course quite true that duvnami" is one of the four words used in the New Testament for miracle, and often has that sense, but here the context suggest the antithesis between potential and actual operation, and moreover non-miraculous). eAEnevrghma is an uncommon word, meaning the work wrought by eAEnevpgeia or operation.

531 1S 16,14,

532 Nb 11,25, 26, LXX. and R.V. "did so no more" for "did not cease" of A.V.

533 The distinction between the lovgo" eAEvdiavqeto", thought, and the logo" porforikov", speech, appears first in Philo. II. 154. On the use of the term in Catholic Theology cf. Dr. Robertson’s note on Ath., De Syn. § 26,p. 463 of the Ed. in this series. Also, Dorner, Div. I. 1,p. 338, note.

534 (Rm 8,16 Rm 8,

535 (Ga 6,4 Ga 6,

536 (Mt 10,20 Mt 10,

537 (Rm 12,5, 6.

538 (1Co 12,21).

539 (1Co 12,18, slightly varied in order.

540 (1Co 12,25 1Co 12,

541 (1Co 12,26 1Co 12,

542 An inversion of 1Co 12,13.

543 (Ex 33,21, Lxx.

544 (Dt 12,13, 14.

545 (Ps 50,14, LXX.

546 (Jn 4,23 Jn 4, this interpretation, cf. Athan., Epist Jn 1, Ad Serap. § Jn 33, "Hence it is shewn that the Truth is the Son Himself. . . for they worship the Father, but in Spirit and in Truth, confessing the Son and the Spirit in him; for the Spirit is inseparable from the Son as the Son is inseparable from the Father."

547 (Gn 28,16 Gn 28,

548 (1Co 6,19 1Co 6,

549 (2Co 2,17 2Co 2,

550 (2Co 13,3 2Co 13,

551 (1Co 14,2 1Co 14,

552 1 Peter 1,11.

553 eAEn to `" genhtoi`", as in the Bodleian ms. The Benedictine text adopts the common reading gennhtoi", with the note, "Sed discrimen illud parvi momenti." If St. Basil wrote gennhtoi`", he used it in the looser sense of mortal: in its strict sense of "begotten" it would be singularly out of place here, as the antithesis of the reference to the Son, who is gennhtov", would be spoilt. In the terminology of theology, so far from being "parvi momenti," the distinction is vital. In the earlier Greek philosophy aAEgevnhto" and aAEgevnnhto" are both used as nearly synonymous to express unoriginate eternal). cf. Plat., Phaed. D., aAErch; de; aAEgevnhtovn, with Plat, Tim. 52 A., Toutwn de; ou[tw" eAEcovntwn o Jmologhtevon e)n me;n ei\nai to kata; tauAEta; ei\do" e[con aAEgevnnhton kai; aAEnwvleqron. And the earliest patristic use similarly meant by gennhtov" and aAEgevnnhto" created and uncreated, as in Ign., Ad Eph. 7,, where our Lord is called gennhto;" kai; aAEgevnnhto". eAEn aAEndr ovpw Qeo;", eAEn qanavtw zwh` aAElhqinhv). cf. Bp. Lightfoot’s note. But "such language is not in accordance with later theological definitions, which carefully distinguished between genhtov" and gennhtov". between aAEgevnhto" and aAEgevnnhto"; so that genhtov", aAEgevnhto", respectively denied and affirmed the eternal existence, being equivalent to ktistov", a[ktisto", , while gennhtov", aAEgevnnhto" described certain ontological relations, whether in time or in eternity. In the later theological language, therefore, the Son was gennrtov" even in His Godhead. See esp. Joann. Damasc., De Fid. Orth. I. 8 (1P 135, Lequin), crh; ga;r eivdevnai o[ti to; aAEgevnhton, dia; tou` e Jno;" n grafovmenon, to; a[ktiston h[ to; mh; genovmenon shmaivnei, to; de; aAEgevnnhton, dia; tw`n duvo nn grafomenon, dhloi` to; mh; gennhqevn; whence he draws the conclusion that movno" o J path;o aAEgevnnhto" and movno" o J uiAEo;" gennhtov"." Bp. Lightfoot, Ap. Fathers, Pt. II. Vol. II. p. 90, where the history of the worlds is exhaustively discussed. At the time of the Arian controversy the Catholic disputants were chary of employing these terms, because of the base uses to which their opponents put them; so St. Basil, Contra Eunom. 4,protests against the Arian argument eiv aAEgevnnhto" oAE path;r gennhto;" de; oAE uivo", ouAEsia".

cf. Ath., De Syn. in this series, p. 475, and De Decretis., on Newman’s confusion of the terms, p. 149 and 169.

554 (He 1,1 He 1,

555 sumfuhv").

556 cf. 2Co 3,5.

557 (He 13,15 He 13,

558 (1Co 7,40 1Co 7,

559 (2Tm I. 14.

560 (Da 4,8, lxx.

561 (Jn 4,24 Jn 4,

562 cf. note on § 15. So Athan). in Matt. 11,22). Sfragiv" gavr eAEstin iAEsovtupo" eAEn e Jantw` delknuv" to;n patevra ). cf. Athan., De Dec. § 20, and note 9 in this series, p. 163). cf. also Greg. Nyss., In Eunom. 2,12.

563 The genuineness of this latter portion of the Treatise was objected to by Erasmus on the ground that the style is unlike that of Basil’s soberer writings. Bp. Jeremy Taylor follows Erasmus (Vol. 6,ed. 1852, p. 427). It was vindicated by Casaubon, who recalls St. Jn Damascene’s quotation of the Thirty Chapters to Amphilochius. Mr. C. F. H. Johnston remarks, "The later discovery of the Syriac Paraphrases of the whole book pushes back this argument to about one hundred years from the date of St. Basil’s writing. The peculiar care taken by St. Basil for the writing out of the treatise, and for its safe arrival in Amphilochius’ hands, and the value set upon it by the friends of both, make the forgery of half the present book, and the substitution of it for the original within that period, almost incredible." Section 66 is quoted as an authoritative statement on the right use of Tradition "as a guide to the right understanding of Holy Scripture, for the right ministration of the Sacraments, and the preservation of sacred rights and ceremonies in the purity of their original institution," in Philaret’s Longer Catechism of the Eastern Church.

St. Basil is, however, strong on the supremacy of Holy Scripture, as in the passages quoted in Bp. H. Browne, On the xxxix Articles: "Believe those things which are written; the things which are not written seek not." (Hom. 29,adv. Calum. S. Trin). "It is a manifest defection from the faith, and a proof of arrogance, either to reject anything of what is written, or to introduce anything that is not." (De Fide. i)). cf. also Letters CV. and CLIX. On the right use of Tradition cf. Hooker, Ecc. Pol. 65,2, "Lest, therefore, the name of tradition should be offensive to any, considering how far by some it hath been and is abused, we mean by traditions ordinances made in the prime of Christian Religion, established with that authority which Christ hath left to His Church for matters indifferent, and in that consideration requisite to be observed, till like authority see just and reasonable causes to alter them. So that traditions ecclesiastical are not rudely and in gross to be shaken off, because the inventors of them were men."

cf. Tert., De Praes . 36, 20, 21, "Constat omnem doctrinam quae cum illis eccleiis apostolicis matricibus et originalibus fedei conspiret veritai deputandam, id sine dubio tenentem quod ecclesiae ab apostolis, apostoli a Christo, Christus a Deo accepit ." Vide Thomasius, Christ. Dogm. I. 105).

564 twvn eAEn th` Ekklhsiva pefnlagmevnwn donmavtwn kai; khrugmavtwn." To give the apparent meaning of the original seems impossible except by some such paraphrase as the above. In Scripture dovgma, which occurs five times (Lc 2,1, Ac 16,4, 17,7, Ep 2,15, and Col ii 14), always has its proper sense of decree or ordinances). cf. Bp. Lightfoot, on Col. ii. 14, and his contention that the Greek Fathers generally have mistaken the force of the passage in understanding dovgmata in both Col and Ep to mean the doctrines and precepts of the Gospel). Khvrugma occurs eight times (Mt 12,41, Lc 11,32, Rm 16,25, 1Co 1,21, 2,4, 15,14, 2 Tim 4,17, and Tit. i. 3), always in the sense of preaching or proclamation.

"The later Christian sense of dovgma, meaning doctrine, came from its secondary classical use, where it was applied to the authoritative and categorical ’sentences’ of the philosophers: cf. Just. Mart., Apol. 1,7). oiv eAE[v Ellhsi tu; auAEtoi`" aAErestu;oogmativsavte" eAEk pantov" tw` eni; onovmati filosof a" prosagoreuvonta, kaivper tu.n dogmavtwn eAEnantivwn o[ntwn." [All the sects in general among the Greeks are known by the common name of philosophy, through their doctrines are different.] Cic., Acad. 2,19. ’De suis decretis quae philosophi vocant dogmata.’ . . . There is an approach towards the ecclesiastical meaning in Ignat., Mag. 13, bebaiwdh`sai eAEn toi`" dovgmasi tou` kurivou kai; tw`n apostolwn." Bp. Lightfoot in Col 2,14. The "doctrines" of heretics are also called dovgmata, as in Basil, Ep. CCLXI. and Socr., E. H. 3,10). cf. Bp. Bull, in Serm. 2, "The dogmata or tenets of the Sadducees." In Orig., c. Cels. 3,p. 135, Ed. Spencer, 1658, dovgma is used of the gospel or teaching of our Lord.

The special point about St. Basil’s use of dovgmata is that he uses the word of doctrines and practices privately and tacitly sanctioned in the Church (like apovrrhta, which is used of the esoteric doctrine of the Pythagoreans, Plat., Phaed. 62.B)., while he reserves khruvgmata for what is now often understood by dovgmata, i.e. "legitima synodo decreta." cf. Ep. LII., where he speaks of the great khvrugma of the Fathers at Nicaea. In this he is supported by Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria, 579–607, of whom Photius (Cod. ccxxx. Migne Pat. Gr. 103,p. 1027) writes, "In this work," i.e. Or. II. "he says that of the doctrines (didagmavtwn) handed down in the church by the ministers of the word, some are dovgmata, and others khruvgmata. The distinction is that dovgmata are announced with concealment and prudence, and are often designedly compassed with obscurity, in order that holy things may not be exposed to profane persons nor pearls cast before swine). Khruvgmata, on the other hand, are announced without any concealment." So the Benedictine Editors speak of Origen (c. Cels. 1,7) as replying to Celsus, "praedicationem Christianorum toti orbi notiorem essquam placita philosophorum: sed tamen fatetur, ut opud philosophos, ita etiam apud Christianos nonulla esse veluti interiora, quae post exteriorem et propositam omnibus doctrinam tradantur." Of khruvgata they note, "Videntur hoc nomine designari leges ecclesiasticae et canonum decreta quae promulgari in ecclesia mos erat, ut neminem laterent." Mr. C. F. H. Johnston remarks: "The o Juoouvsion, which many now-a-days would call the Nicene dogma (tu; tou` o Jmoonsivon dovgmata, Soc., E.H. 3,10) because it was put forth in the Council of Nicaea, was for that reason called not dovgma, but khvrugma, by St. Basil, who would have said that it became the khvougma (definition) of that Council, because it had always been the dovgma of the Church."

In extra theological philosophy a dogma has all along meant a certainly expressed opinion whether formally decreed or not. So Shaftesbury, Misc. Ref. ii. 2, "He who is certain, or presumes to say he knows, is in that particular whether he be mistaken or in the right a dogmatist." cf. Littré S.V. for a similar use in French. In theology the modern Roman limitation of dogma to decreed doctrine is illustrated by the statement of Abbé Bérgier (Dict de Théol. Ed. 1844) of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. "Or, nous convenons que ce n’est pas un dogme de foi," because, thought a common opinion among Romanists, it had not been so asserted at the Council of Trent. Since the publication of Pius IX’s Edict of 1854 it has become, to ultramontanists, a "dogma of faith."

565 (1Co 2,7 1Co 2, there is or is not here conscious reference to St. Paul’s words, there seems to both in the text and in the passage cited an employment of musthvrion in its proper sense of secret revealed to the initiated.

566 i.e. if nothing were of weight but what was written, what need of any authorisation at all? There is no need of khrugma for a dovgma expressly written in Scripture.

567 eAEpi; th` aAEnadeixei. The Benedictine note is: "Non respicit Basilius ad ritum ostensionis Eucharistiae, ut multi existimarunt, sed potius ad verba Liturgiaeipsi ascriptae, cum petit sacerdos, ut veniat Spiritus sanctus  a Jgiavsai kai aAEnadei`xai to;n me;n a[rton tou`ton auAEto; to; tivmion sw`ma tou` kurivou). Haec autem verba eAEpi; th` aAEvadeixei, sic reddit Erasmus, cum ostenditur. Vituperat eum Ducaeus; sicque ipse vertit, cum conficitur, atque hanc interpretationem multis exemplis confirmat. Videtur tamen nihil prorsus vitii habitura a haec interpretatio, Invocationis verba cum ostenditur panis Eucharistiae, id est, cum panis non jam panis est, sed panis Eucharistiae, sive corpus Christi ostenditur; et in liturgia, ut sanctitficet et ostendat hunc quidem panem, ipsum pretiosum corpus Domini). Nam io Cur eam vocem reformidemus, qua Latini uti non dubitant, ubi de Eucharistia ioquuntur? Quale est illud Cypriani in epistola 63 ad Caecilium: Vino Christi sanguis ostenditur). Sic etiam Tertullianus I. Marc. c. 14: Panem quo ipsum corpus suum repraesentat 20 Ut Graece aAEnadei`xai, apofaivnein , ita etiam Latine, ostendere, corpus Christi praesens in Eucharistia significatione quadam modo exprimit. Hoc enim verbum non solum panem fieri corpus Domini significat, sed etiam fidem nostram excitat, ut illud corpus sub specie panis videndum, tegendum, adorandum astendi credamus. Quemadmodum Irenaeus, cum ait lib. 4,cap. 33: Accipiens panem suum corpus esse confitebatur, et temperamentum calicis suum sanguinem conformavit, non solum mutationem panis et vini in corpus et sanguinem Christi exprimit, sed ipsam etiam Christi asseverationem, quae hanc nobis mutationem persuadet; sic qui corpus Christi in Eucharistia ostendi et repraesentari dicunt, non modo jejuno et exiliter loqui non videntur, sed etiam acriores Christi praesentis adorandi stimulos subjicere. Poterat ergo retineri interpretatio Erasmi: sed quia viris eruditis displicuit, satius visum est quid sentirem in hac nota exponere."

This view of the meaning of aAEnadeivknusqai and a1NAVDEIXI" as being equivalent to poieisn and poivhsi" is borne out and illustrated by Suicer, S.V. "(Ex his jam satis liquere arbitror aAEuadeixai apud Basilium id esse quod alii Graei patres dicunt poiei`n vel aAEpofaivnein sw`ma cristou`."

It is somewhat curious to find Bellarmine (De Sacr. Euch. 4,§ 14) interpreting the prayer to God euAElogh`sai kai; a Jliav" I kai; aAEnadei`xai to mean "ostende per effectum salutarem in mentibus nostris istum panem salutificatum non esse panem vulgarem sed coelestem."

568 For the unction of catechumens cf). Ap. Const. 7,22; of the baptized, Tertullian, De Bapt. 7,; of the confirmed, id. viii.; of the sick vide Plumptre on St. James 5,14, in Cambridge Bible for Schools). cf. Letter clxxxviii.

569 For trine immersion an early authority is Tertullian, c). Praxeam 26,cf. Greg. Nyss., De Bapt). u(dati e Jautou;" eAEgkruvpromen . . . kai; trivton tou`to poihvsante"). Dict. Ch. Ant. i. 161.

570 cf. my note on Theodoret in this series, p. 112.

571 (He 11,14, R.V.

572 (Gn 2,8 Gn 2,

573 The earliest posture of prayer was standing, with the hands extended and raised towards heaven, and with the face turned to the East). cf. early art, and specially the figures of "oranti." Their rich dress indicates less their actual station in this life than the expected felicity of Paradise). Vide, Dict. Christ. Ant. 2,1684.

574 "Stood again with" - sunanastavnte".

575 (Col 3,1 Col 3,

576 (Gn 1,5 Gn 1, LXX. Vulg. R.V). cf. p. 64.

577 Vide Titles to Pss. 6,and xii. in A.V. "upon Sheminith," marg. "the eighth." LXX uvpe;r th`" oAEgdovh". Vulg). pro octava. On various explanations of the Hebrew word vide Dict Bib. S. V. where Dr. Aldis Wright inclines to the view that it is a tune or key, and that the Hebrews were not acquainted with the octave).

578 (1Tm 3,16 1Tm 3,

579 (1Co 6,11 1Co 6,

580 (1Co 5,4 1Co 5,

581 (Col 2,13).

582 cf. 2Co 5,8.

583 cf. Ph 1,23.

584 (1Co 3,9 1Co 3,

585 cf. Col 1,6.

586 (Col 3,3, 4.

587 (Rm 8,2 Rm 8,

588 (Rm 8,17 Rm 8,

589 (Rm 8,16, 17. In this passage A.V. follows the neuter of the Greek original. R.V. has substituted "himself." cf. note on p. 15.

590 cf. Ga 5,5.

591 cf. Ep 2,6.

592 cf. Ph 3,21, and 1Co 15,44.

593 (1Th 4,17 1Th 4,

594 (Rm 8,17

595 (Rm 1,4 Rm 1,

596 (2Tm 2,12 2Tm 2,

597 (He 10,29 He 10,

598 cf. Verg., Aen. 2,Quis talia fando . . . temperet a lacrymis?

599 (Rm 8,26 Rm 8,

600 (Ph 4,7 Ph 4,

601 i.e. of Jesus the Son of Sirach, or Si 43,30.

602 (Lc 12,10).

603 (1Co 11,2 1Co 11,

604 (2Th 2,15 2Th 2,

605 (Dt 19,15 Dt 19,

606 (Jb 8,9 Jb 8,

607 i.e. Dianius, bp. of the Cappadocian Caesarea, who baptized St. Basil c. 357 on his return from Athens, and ordained him Reader. He was a waverer, and signed the creed of Ariminum in 359; Basil consequently left him, but speaks reverentially of him in Ep. 51.

608 † c. 200.

609 † 100.

610 † 260.

611 Dionysius was Patriarch of Alexandria a.d. 247–265. Basil’s "strange to say" is of a piece with the view of Dionysius’ heretical tendencies expressed in Letter 9,q.v. Athanasius, however, (De Sent. Dionysii) was satisfied as to the orthodoxy of his predecessor. Bp. Westcott (Dict. C. Biog. I. 851) quotes Lumper (Hist. Pat. 12,86) as supposing that Basil’s charge against Dionysius of sowing the seeds of the Anomoean heresy was due to imperfect acquaintance with his writings. In Letter clxxxviii. Basil calls him "the Great." which implies general approval.

612 Clem. Rom., Ep. ad Cor. 58,Bp. Lightfoot’s . Fathers, Pt. I. 2,169.

613 Irenaeus is near he Apostles in close connexion, as well as in time, through his personal knowledge of Polycarp). Vide his Ep. to Florinus quoted in Euseb., Ecc. Hist. 5,20. In his work On the Ogdoad, quoted in the same chapter, Irenaeus says of himself that he thvn pswth;n tw`n j Apostolw`n kateilhfevnai thn diadochvn "had himself had the nearest succession of the Apostles."

614 The reference is presumably to 1 Cor. 2,11 and 3,1.

615 i.e. Eusebius of Caesarea, the historian, so called to distinguish him from his namesake of Nicomedia). cf. Theodoret, Ecc. Hist. I. 1. The work is not extant. It may be that mentioned by Eusebius in his Praep. Evang. 7, 8, 20 under the title of peri; th`" tw`n palaiw`n aAEndrw`n polupaidiva").

616 The quotation is from the Eighth Book.

617 cf. 1P 3,21.

618 AS to Origen’s unorthodoxy concerning the Holy Spirit St. Basil may have had in his mind such a passage as the following from the First Book of the De Principiis, extant in the original in Justinian, Ep. ad Mennam. Minge, Pat. Gr. 11,p. 150). o[ti o J me;n qeo;" kai;path`r sunevcwn ta; pavnta fqavnei ei" ekaston tw`n o[ntwn metadidou;" e Jkavstw aAEpo; ton` iAEdivon to; ei\nai : w)n ga;r e[stin : eAElavttwn de; para to;n patevra o J Ui Jo;" fqavnei eAEpi; movna ta; logikav. denvtero" lavr eAEsti tou` patrov": e[ti de` h Jneu`ma to; a[liov eAEpi; movnou" ton` a Jgivou" di iknou`menon. w[ste kata; tou`to meizwn h; duvnami" tou` Patro;" para; to;n Uio;n kai; to; pneu`ma to; a[gion pleivwn de; h J tou` Ui Jou` papa` to; pneu`ma to; a[gion. The work does not even exist as a whole in the translation of Rufinus, who omitted portions, and St. Jerome thought that Rufinus had misrepresented it. Photius (Biblioth. cod. viii). says that Origen, in asserting in this work that the Son was made by the Father and the Spirit by the Son, is most blashemous. Bp. Harold Browne, however (position of the 39,Art. p. 113, n. 1), is of opinion that if Rufinus fairly translated the following passage, Origen cannot have been fairly charged with heresy concerning the Holy Ghost: "(Ne quis sane existimet nos ex co quod diximus Spiritum sanctum solis sanctis praestari. Patris vero et Filii beneficia vel inoperationes pervenire ad bonos et malos, justos et injustos, proetulisse per hoc Patri et Filio Spiritum Sanctum, vel majorem ejus per hoc asserere dignitatem; quod utique valde inconsequens est. Proprietatem namque gratiae ejus operisque descipsimus. Porro autem nihil in Trinitate majus minusve dicendum est, quum unius Divinitatis Fons verbo ac ratione sua teneat universa, spiritu vero oris sui quae digna sunt, sanctificatione sanctificet, sicut in Psalmo scriptum est verbo domini coeli firmati sunt et spiritu oris ejus omnis virtus eorum." De Princ. I. 3,7.

On the obligations of both Basil and Gregory of Nazianzus to Origen, cf. Socrates 4,26.

619 Of the chief writings of Julius Africanus (called Sextus Africanus by Suidas), who wrote at Emmaus and Alexandria c. 220, only fragments remain. A Letter to Origen is complete. His principal work was a Chronicon from the Creation to a.d. 221, in Five Books. Of this Dr. Salmon (D.C.B. I 56) thinks the doxology quoted by Basil was the conclusion.

620 (Ps 141,was called o J e;piluvcnio" yalmov" (Ap. Const. 8,35). In the Vespers of the Eastern Church an evening hymn is sung, translated in D.C.A. I. 634, "Joyful Light of the holy glory of the immortal Father, the heavenly the holy, the blessed Jesus Christ, we having come to the setting of the sun and beholding the evening light, praise God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. It is meet at all times that thou shouldest be hymned with auspicious voices, Son of God, Giver of Life: wherefore the world glorifieth thee."

621 Identified by some with two early hymns, Dovxa eAEn u Jyivstoi", and fw" i Jlarovn.

622 The mss. vary between eAExithvrion and aAElexithvrion, farewell gift and amulet or charm. In Ep. cciii. 229 Basil says that our Lord gave His disciples peace as an eAExithvrion dw`ron, using the word, but in conjunction with dw`ron. Greg. Naz., Orat. 14,223 speaks of our Lord leaving peace "w[sper a[llo ti eAEAExithvpion."

623 i.e. Gregory, bishop of Neocaesarea, known as Gregorius Thaumaturgus, or Gregory the Wonder-worker. To the modern reader "Gregory the Great" more naturally suggest Gregory of Nazianzus, but this he hardly was to his friend and contemporary, though the title had accrued to him by the time of the accepted Ephesine Council in 431 (videLabbe, vol. 4,p. 1192) Gregory the Wonder-worker, † c. 270).

624 (2Co 12,18 2Co 12,

625 (Rm 1,5 Rm 1,

626 e.g. according to the legend, the Lycus). cf. Newman, Essays o Miracles, p. 267.

627 The story is told by Gregory of Nyssa, Life ofGreg. Thaum. Migne 44,926–930.

628 The Neocaesareans appear to have entertained a Puritan objection to the antiphonal psalmody becoming general in the Church in the time of Basil). cf. Ep. ccvii.

629 Firmilian, like Gregory the Wonder-worker, a pupil of Origen, was bishop of Caesarea from before a.d. 232 (Euseb. 6,26) to 272 (Euseb. 7, 30). By some his death at Tarsus is placed in 265 or 5.

630 cf. Mt 12,31).

631 (Mt 28,19 Mt 28,

632 The Benedictine version for ta;" tima`" tou` kurivon is honorem quem Dominus tribuit Spiritui. The reading of one ms. is ta`" fwnav". There is authority for either sense of the genitive with timhv, i.e. the houours due to the Lord or paid by the Lord.

633 cf. Col 3,15.

634 (2Co I. 9.

635 (Qo 3,7 Qo 3,

636 i.e. after the condemnation of Arius at Nicaea/

637 In Ep. ccxlii. written in 376, St. Basil says: "This is the thirteenth year since the outbreak of the war of heretics against us." 363 is the date of the Acacian Council of Antioch; 364 of the accession of Valens and Valentian, of the Semi-Arian Synod of Lampsacus, and of St. Basil’s ordination to the priesthood and book against Eunomius. On the propagation by scission and innumerable subdivisions of Arianism Cannon Bright writes:

The extraordinary versatility, the argumentative subtlety, and the too frequent profanity of Arianism are matters of which a few lines can give no idea. But it is necessary , in even the briefest notice of this long-lived heresy, to remark on the contrast between its changeable inventiveness and the simple steadfastness of Catholic doctrine. On the one side, some twenty different creeds (of which several, however, were rather negatively than positively heterodox) and three main sects, the Semi-Arians, with their formula of Homoiousion, i.e. the Son is like in essence to the Father; the Acacians, vaguely calling Him like (Homoion); the Aetians, boldly calling Him unlike, as much as to say He is in no sense Divine. On the other side, the Church with the Nicene Creed, confessing Him as Homoousion, ’of one essence with the Father,’ meaning thereby, as her great champion repeatedly bore witness, to secure belief in the reality of the Divine Sonship, and therefore in the real Deity, as distinguished from the titular deity which was so freely conceded to Him by the Arians." Cannon Bright, St. Leo on the Incarnation, p. 140

Socrates (ii. 41), pausing at 360, enumerates, after Nicaea:

1. 1st of Antioch

 omitted the o Jmooou;sion, a.d. 341)

2. 2d of Antioch

3. The Creed brought to Constans in Gaul by Narcissus and other Arians in 342.

4. The Creed "sent by Eudoxius of Germanicia into Italy," i.e. the "Macrostich," or "Lengthy Creed," rejected at Milan in 346.

5. The 1st Creed of Sirmium; i.e. the Macrostich with 26 additional clauses, 351.

6. The 2d Sirmian Creed. The "manifesto;" called by Athanasius (De Synod. 28) "the blasphemy," 357.

7. The 3d Sirmian, or "dated Creed," in the consulship of Flavius Eusebius and Hypatius, May 22d, 359.

8. The Acacian Creed of Seleucia, 359.

9. The Creed of Ariminum adopted at Constantinople, as revised at Nike).

638 On the authority of the ms. of the tenth century at Paris, called by the Ben. Editors Regius Secundus, they read for pneuvmato" pavqon", denying pneumato" to be consistent with the style and practice of Basil, who they say, never uses the epithet swthvoio" of the Spirit. Mr. C. F. H. Johnston notes that St. Basil "always attributes the saving efficacy of Baptism to the presence of the Spirit, and here applies the word to Him." In § 35, we have to; awthvrion bavppisua.

639 (1Tm I. 19.

640 (1Co 2,6 1Co 2,

641 Among the bishops exiled during the persecution of Valens were Meletius of Antioch. Eusebius of Samosata, Pelagius of Laodicea, and Barses of Edessa). cf. Theodoret, st. Ecc. 4,12 sq. cf. Ep. 195.

642 The identification of an unsound Monarchianism with Judaism is illustrated in the 1st Apology of Justin Martyr e.g. in § lxxxiii. (Reeves’ Trans).. "The Jews, therefore, for maintaining that it was the Father of the Universe who had the conference with Moses, when it was the very Son of God who had it, and who is styled both Angel and Apostle, are justly accused by the prophetic spirit and Christ Himself, for knowing neither the Father nor the Son; for they who affirm the Son to be the Father are guilty of not knowing the Father, and likewise of being ignorant that the Father of the Universe has a Son, who, being the Logos and First-begotten of God, is God."

643 i.e. the Arians, whose various ramifications all originated in a probably well-meant attempt to reconcile the principles of Christianity with what was best in the old philosophy, and a failure to see that the ditheism of Arianism was of a piece with polytheism.

644 The word spoudarcivdh" is a comic patronymic of spoudavrch", a place-hunter, occurring in the Archarnians of Aristophanes, 595.

645 oiAEkonomiva).


Basil: letters, hexaemeron - II. WORKS