5 Quotes & Sayings By Basil The Great

Basil the Great was born in Cappadocia of Pagan parents. He had a brother called Gregory and a sister called Macrina. His mother got him involved in the Christian faith and he was baptized by Saint Gregory Nazianzen. He was educated at home and then later entered the catechetical school of Basil, where he became a monk and was ordained a deacon Read more

He went to Constantinople where he met his friend Gregory of Nyssa and began to study theology. At some point he became a priest and eventually returned to Cappadocia. Basil was appointed bishop of Caesarea, but after only three months he retired from this office on account of poor health.

He seems to have had a strong sense of his own mission in life and used every means available to him to arrive at its realization: prayer, fasting, asceticism, and self-denial. He led an austere life and withdrew into solitude for 13 years in order that he might more effectively pray and fast for others. After retiring from his episcopate, he spent the last five years of his life in solitude again with only one attendant, his disciple Procopius.

In the last year of his life Basil wrote a great deal of material for his school which was held every evening from sunset to sunrise at the monastery. It is said that when he began writing it was too dark even for him to see what he was writing, but that when he completed it there were light enough for him to read by.

Words are truly the image of the soul.
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Words are truly the image of the soul. Basil The Great
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When someone steals another's clothes, we call them a thief. Should we not give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not? The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry; the coat unused in your closet belongs to the one who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the one who has no shoes; the money which you hoard up belongs to the poor. Basil The Great
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The bread which you hold back belongs to the hungry; the coat, which you guard in your locked storage-chests, belongs to the naked; the footwear mouldering in your closet belongs to those without shoes. The silver that you keep hidden in a safe place belongs to the one in need. Thus, however many are those whom you could have provided for, so many are those whom you wrong. Basil The Great
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[The Holy Spirit] is present as a whole to each and wholly present everywhere. He is portioned out impassably and participated in as a whole. He is like a sunbeam whose grace is present to the one who enjoys him as if he were present to such a one alone, and still he illuminates land and sea and is mixed with the air. Just so, indeed, the Spirit is present to each one who is fit to receive him, as if he were present to him alone, and still he sends out his grace that is complete and sufficient for all. The things that participate in him enjoy him to the extent that their nature allows, not to the extent that his power allows. Basil The Great