Letters
More than three hundred letters of the bishop of Caesarea, to bishops, officials, monks and friends. They are the main source for his life, for church politics under the emperor Valens and for his account of essence and hypostasis in the Trinity.
The collection covers the life of Basil of Caesarea from his first retirement to the ascetic life until shortly before his death. It includes letters of friendship, appeals to officials on behalf of his city, directions on church discipline, and doctrinal statements sent to other bishops.
Cited here are Letter 223, in which Basil tells how he read the Gospel, gave up his career and travelled to see the ascetics of Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia; Letter 94, to the governor, defending the hospice he was building at Caesarea; and Letter 236, to Amphilochius, which states the difference between essence and hypostasis as that between the general and the particular. Letters are written to persuade, and Basil’s account of his own conduct is his own. They are, however, contemporary documents from the man himself.
Cited in
- about AD 370 to AD 381, estimated date