Wisdom of Saints: St Basil the Great

The Feast of Basil the Great, Doctor, Bishop of Caesarea, Cappadocia, 379

O GOD, who by thy Holy Spirit hast given unto one man a word of wisdom, and to another a word of knowledge, and to another the gift of tongues: We praise thy Name for the gifts of grace manifested in thy servant Basil, and we pray that thy Church may never be destitute of the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Third Sunday after Trinity

LORD, we beseech thee mercifully to hear us; and grant that we, to whom thou hast given an hearty desire to pray, may by thy mighty aid be defended and comforted in all dangers and adversities; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

St Basil the Great, one of the Cappadocian fathers and friend of St Gregory of Nazianzus, St Basil is one of the great Doctors of the Church and one of the foremost Christian theologians of the patristic age. St Basil came from a famous Christian family, the son of St Basil the Elder, he and two of his brothers (Peter and St Gregory of Nyssa) were raised to the episcopate alongside St Basil while in addition to St Gregory and St Basil, their sister St Macrina the Younger, was also honoured as a saint.

St Basil himself was born around 329 in Caesarea Cappadocia. He was raised in a well-known Christian household, and from a young age St Basil was instructed in the Christian faith and piety. Though his father died when he was young, the family continued and St Basil received a full education studying in Caesarea, Constantinople and Athens. It was during the course of his education that he first became acquainted with St Gregory of Nazianzus who would become his lifelong friend. After completing his education, he returned to Caesarea to teach.

Upon his return to Caesarea Cappadocia, he was baptised ordained a reader (readers were a minor ordained order in the early Church and remain so to this day in the Christian East) by the Bishop of Cappadocia, Dianius. Another influential figure in St Basil’s life at this time was his sister, St Macrina. While St Basil had travelled far and wide for his education. St Macrina had dedicated herself to founding a religious community among the family’s various holdings. Her witness helped open St Basil’s eyes to the Gospel and in particular to turn away from material concerns of wealth. To pursue Godly perfection, St Basil began exploring monasteries and monastic piety throughout the known world before returning to Pontus, where he had lived after the death of his father, and founded his own monastic community there. Due in large part to this, St Basil became known as the father of Oriental monasticism.

St Basil was convinced to be ordained a priest in 363 by the new Bishop of Caesarea, and was given a prominent position within the administration of the diocese. He was extremely well-regarded within the diocese, earning for himself a particular reputation as the saviour of the poor after supporting them during a famine. The 14th of June 370 he was consecrated Bishop of Caesarea. As Bishop of Caesarea, St Basil was Metropolitan of Cappadocia, a vast ecclesial territory, which ranked in importance behind only the five patriarchates and Ephesus.

St Basil was very active in his ministry, as the over three hundred existent letters profess plainly. His letters are a form of chronology that help illustrate the many challenges faced in his day. Along with St Athanasius the Great, St Basil was a great defender of Christian orthodoxy during a turbulent time in the Church when orthodoxy was under significant attack by Arians, and particular at times when Arian Emperors controlled the Empire.

One of his famous letters, XLVI, To a fallen virgin, helps to illustrate St Basil’s pastoral heart which was the foundation for all his ministry. It is not known exactly who the recipient of the letter was, as is the case with a number of his letters, but it seems she was a Christian who publicly professed virginity but later in some way admitted to St Basil that it was not true. St Basil quotes liberally from Scriptures, focusing largely on the Prophet Jeremiah and then from the New Testament, drawing upon comparisons of the bride of Christ and Israel as God’s bride. In quoting from these passages, St Basil begins his letter by stressing a case for the fallen virgin’s actions being of severe importance. Basil writes:

I used to describe the high dignity of virginity, and, addressing you as a temple of God, used as it were to give wings to your zeal as I strove to lift you to Jesus. Yet through fear of evil I helped you not to fall by the words “if any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.” So by my prayers I tried to make you more secure, if by any means “your body, soul, and spirit might be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Yet all my toil on your behalf has been in vain.

Mirroring Jeremiah’s lament for Israel, St Basil concludes this section by noting his own disappointment, yet it also begins to hint at his pastoral heart as he reminds the recipient that he himself had prayed for her. He uses strong words to show how sincerely he cares for the recipient because of the harm she has done herself:

You have been deceived by the serpent more bitterly than Eve; and not only your mind but also your body has been defiled. Even that last horror has come to pass which I shrink from saying, and yet cannot leave unsaid, for it is as a burning and blazing fire in my bones, and I am undone and cannot endure.

This is again a hint at his pastoral heart. While his words are harsh, he is clearly aggrieved at the sinfulness of what has happened, and laments that he had not been able to do more to prevent it from happening, for the way in which the sin has defiled her soul. Immediately, however, in Chapter 5 of his letter, he turns to the divine remedy:

“Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?” You might indeed find many remedies for evil in Scripture, many medicines to save from destruction and lead to health; the mysteries of death and resurrection, the sentences of terrible judgment and everlasting punishment; the doctrines of repentance and of remission of sins; all the countless illustrations of conversion, the piece of money, the sheep, the son who wasted his substance with harlots, who was lost and was found, who was dead and alive again. Let us not use these remedies for ill; by these means let us heal our soul.

St Basil had previously described how her sin was in effect worse than the sin of Eve, yet immediately he points to Holy Scripture, to God’s testimony of love and repentance and makes clear that there is a solution. He continues in Chapter 6, the conclusion of the letter, where he says:

While we can, let us lift ourselves from the fall: let us never despair of ourselves, if only we depart from evil. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. “O come, let us worship and fall down; let us weep before Him.” The Word Who invited us to repentance calls aloud, “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” There is, then, a way of salvation, if we will. “Death in his might has swallowed up, but again the Lord hath wiped away tears from off all faces” of them that repent. The Lord is faithful in all His words. He does not lie when He says, “Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool.” The great Physician of souls, Who is the ready liberator, not of you alone, but of all who are enslaved by sin, is ready to heal your sickness.

St Basil concludes his letter with a call to repentance available even to one who had fallen farther than Eve as he described it earlier, and finally ends his letter on a note of assurance as he alludes to the parable of the two sons:

If any of those who think they stand find fault because of your quick reception, the good Father will Himself make answer for you in the words, “It was meet that we should make merry and be glad for this” my daughter “was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found.”

On God's Side

The Third Sunday after Easter

ALMIGHTY God, who showest to them that it be in error the light of thy truth, to the intent that they may return into the way of righteousness: Grant unto all them that are admitted into the fellowship of Christ’s religion, that they may forsake those things that are contrary to their profession, and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

There is a tendency in Christian song and in writing to refer to the concept of God being on our side. There is some Scriptural reference to this. The hit contemporary Christian song Whom Shall I Fear? by Chris Tomlin creates stunning visuals to reference the Psalmist who writes, “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Ps 118. 6).

Overall, this seems to imply God is for us. It is simple to say, “God is on my side.” But is that the proper way of looking at it? When someone makes an argument and then invokes God’s favour saying, “God is on my side,” or, “God supports my position,” is that a fair argument to make?

To make a more concrete example, many of the revisionist innovations implemented in the Anglican Church of Canada over the last forty years have been preceded by arguments that it is the movement of the Holy Spirit and that, to take the perspective of the proponents of these innovations, “God is on my side,” or, “the movement of the Spirit is calling us to do this.”

The idea that God is on our side and supports us, more ludicrous still is when we suggest God supports every particular cause we believe in. In Canada well into the 20th century, the Roman Catholic Church in Quebec would remind parishioners before an election that, “le ciel est bleu, et l’enfer est rouge.” Literally, heaven is blue and hell is red, priests were instructing parishioners to vote for particular parties.

This betrays a fundamental misunderstanding and perspective that is wholly twisted. God is not, in that sense, ever on my side. In the Lord of the Rings epic, Tolkien writes sage words from the mouth of the ancient Ent Treebeard, a living tree who is being asked to join the war in Middle Earth on the side of protagonists. “I'm not altogether on anybody's side because no one is altogether on my side.” Rather than God being on our side, we are called to be on his. As St Paul writes, all fall short of God’s glory. We are not, altogether, on his side. Yet, by faith and Christ’s death and resurrection, we are able to be reconciled to him in order to more fully live in his will.

Claiming the support of God is a historical reality. When the people of Israel God’s exclusive chosen ones, they were able to boast of God being on their side. In the Psalms, the Jews proclaimed it in song, “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear,” (Ps 118. 6). The context of this verse shows the Psalmist is indeed referring to how God was on the side of Israel and his chosen people. When the people of Israel were acting in God’s will, he supported them in their endeavours, be it battle or freedom from slavery. When St Paul echoes these words in Romans 8. 31, though, what is the context in which these words are repeated? Does he mean God is on the side of all Christians, the new chosen? Not entirely. The context of Romans as a whole makes clear that while St Paul is speaking there specifically of Christians, he has been making the case throughout Romans for God being on the side of all humanity, wishing for their salvation and for all people to be reconciled to him. St Paul has just explained how we cannot justify ourselves under the law and are reliant on God’s grace.

When St Paul asks who can be against us, he his point is more that when we place our trust in God, no one can overcome his desire for us to be reconciled to him. In the season of Eastertide, as we celebrate the resurrection, we are also celebrating victory over sin and death through Christ’s atoning sacrifice. The classic CS Lewis novel The Screwtape Letters creates a fictional account of how the enemy might seek to attack our faith, and also shows how ultimately God is stronger.

More clearly, St John explores the same topic from another perspective in his first epistle:

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (1 Jn 3. 16-18)

Here, St John reminds us of God’s abiding presence as the governor of our lives. As St Paul asked if God was with us, who could be against us, St John reminds us that for God to be with us, we must be with God. God is not on our side, but rather, we must be on God’s side.

Going back to the Old Testament, it should equally be noted that when the people of Israel rebelled against God’s will, he did not act for them in the same manner as was referred to in the Psalms. God helped free the Jews from persecution and slavery after they abandoned him, allowing themselves to fall into those predicaments in the first place.

Perhaps an easier way of viewing this is to say who is leading and who is following. When you say, “God is on my side,” what you are really saying is God is following me and is endorsing what I do. The problem is that God doesn’t do that. God never follows us, we only ever follow him. God’s support for the people of Israel was for when they acted in his will, because in acting in his will they served ultimately to reconcile themselves to him. While it is possible that we can say, “God supports me,” and be correct in the sense that God does support what you are doing, it betrays a false narrative which more correctly stated would be, “I follow God’s will.”

The parable of the two sons recorded in the Gospel of St Luke helps to show the difference of these two mentalities. In the parable, a man has two sons. His younger son demands his inheritance and leaves the family home. He squanders his wealth and beggars himself, ultimately deciding to humble himself and return to his father to beg forgiveness. The elder brother, on the other hand, remained at home, was dutiful and fulfilled all his obligations. When his younger brother returned home and his father forgave him, unconditionally and joyfully accepting his return, the elder brother became angry and jealous, demanding to know why his brother should be celebrated for his return when he had never been celebrated for being dutiful all the while.

In this parable, the younger brother shows the life of a Christian who ultimately seeks to live in the will of God. He has been given a great inheritance, which he may at times squander, but his loving father will always accept him and forgive him if he returns. The elder brother on the other hand seems at first glance to be the one truly living in his father’s will, yet by the end of the parable it becomes more clear that he would be the type to say, “God is on my side,” out of what CS Lewis described as spiritual cancer: pride.

When we take the prideful view that God is on our side, and not the view that we strive to follow his will, we go from being followers of God to agents of his will. The problem with this is when we fall short. If we are followers of God and fall short, then, like the younger brother, we can ask forgiveness and be forgiven. When we are enactors of his will and fall short, however, we are essentially claiming authority from God while acting outside of his will.

It is easy to see how this mentality is adopted, though. There are plenty of Scriptural references to God being for us and God supporting us, and it can be simple to slip into a mentality that convinces ourselves that we are clearly supported by God. Christianity is not having an omnipotent and all-powerful deity who can be called upon to support our politics and our sports teams, but is the teaching of how can, through faith, reconcile ourselves to God in order that we might live this life in submission to his will, and ultimately to be reconciled to him for all eternity.