Basil came from a remarkable Christian family in Cappadocia: his grandmother Macrina the Elder, his sister Macrina and his brother Gregory of Nyssa are all honoured as saints. After studying at Athens with his friend Gregory of Nazianzus, he gave up a promising career for a life of prayer and discipline.
As bishop of Caesarea from 370 he resisted the emperor Valens's pressure to accept Arianism, built a great foundation outside the city to care for the poor and the sick, and wrote the monastic rules still followed in the East. He died in 379, shortly before the Council of Constantinople vindicated his work.
Basil of Caesarea in the library (4 works)
- Basil the Great: On the Holy Spirit, Hexaemeron, Letters — 1895
On the Holy Spirit — the classic defence of the Spirit's divinity — with the Hexaemeron homilies on creation and Basil's letters. - The Ascetic Works of Saint Basil — c. 358–375; translation 1925
Basil's rules for monks, the Longer and Shorter Rules, with his ascetic sermons: the foundation of Eastern monasticism. - Basil: Letters, Vol. 1 — 4th century; translation 1926
Letters 1–58 of Basil the Great: friendship with Gregory of Nazianzus, monastic life, and the struggle against the Arians. - Basil: Letters, Vol. 2 — 4th century; translation 1928
Letters 59–185: Basil as bishop, the Holy Spirit controversy and the healing of the schism at Antioch.