|
HOME | GREEK LANGUAGE |
LIBRARIES |
BLOG | HELP | SEARCH | BOOKSTORE | FREEWARE |
|
|
St Basil the Great Resources Online and in Print
|
130 Pages
Page 4
At Annesi his mother Emmelia erected a chapel in honour of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste to which their relics were translated. It is possible that Basil was present at the dedication services, lasting all night long, which are related to have sent his brother Gregory to sleep. [26] Here, then, Basil was taught the rudiments of religion by his grandmother, [27] and by his father, [28] in accordance with the teaching of the great Gregory the Wonder-worker. [29] Here he learned the Catholic faith.
At an early age he seems to have been sent to school at Caesarea, [30] and there to have formed the acquaintance of an Eusebius, otherwise unknown, [31] Hesychius, [32] and Gregory of Nazianzus, [33] and to have conceived a boyish admiration for Dianius the archbishop. [34]
[26] Greg. Nyss., Orat. in xl. Mart.
[27] Greg. Naz., Or. xliii.
[28] Ep. ccxxiii.
[29] See Ep. cciv. and note on p. 250.
[30] i.e. the Cappadocian Caesarea. The theory of Tillemont that Caesarea of Palestine was the scene of Basil's early school life seems hardly to deserve the careful refutation of Maran (Vit. Bas. i. 5). cf. Ep. xlv. p. 148, and p. 145, n. cf. also note on p. 141 on a possible intercourse between the boy Basil and the young princes Gallus and Julian in their seclusion at Macellum. The park and palace of Macellum (Amm. Marc. "fundus") was near Mt. Argaeus (Soz. v. 2) and close to Caesarea. If Basil and Julian did ever study the Bible together, it seems more probably that they should do so at Macellum, while the prince was still being educated as a Christian, than afterwards at Athens, when the residence at Nicomedia has resulted in the apostasy. cf. Maran, Vit. Bas. ii. 4.
[31] Ep. cclxxi.
[32] Ep. lxiv.
[33] Greg. Naz. Or. xliii.
[34] Ep. li.
Reference address : https://elpenor.org/basil/life-works.asp?pg=4
