Basil of Caesarea

Basil studied rhetoric at Athens with Gregory of Nazianzus (Socrates, Church History 4.26). His brother says that their sister Macrina turned him from a public career to the ascetic life (Gregory of Nyssa, Life of Macrina pp. 27–28 (PG 46.965–966)); Basil himself says that he read the Gospel, sold his goods and went to see the monks of Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia (Basil, Letter 223.2). He founded monasteries in the region of Pontus and resisted the emperor Valens over the creed (Socrates, Church History 4.26).

He was bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia for eight years (Gregory of Nyssa, Life of Macrina pp. 39–41 (PG 46.973–976)); the translator of the Life places his death at the beginning of 379. In his letters he set out the distinction between the one essence and the three hypostases (Basil, Letter 236.6), and in On the Holy Spirit he defended giving the Spirit the same glory as the Father and the Son (Basil, On the Holy Spirit 1.3; 18.45–47). Jerome lists his works against Eunomius, on the Spirit, on the six days of creation and on the ascetic life, and says that he died under the emperor Gratian (Jerome, On Illustrious Men 116). See the Cappadocians and the Doctrine of the Trinity.