1 Placed at the same time as the foregoing.
3 The Ben. note runs, "Ministros, sive subdiaconos, sacratorum ordini ascribit Basilius. Synodus Laodicena inferiores clericos sacratorum numero non comprehendit, sed numerat sacratos a presbyteris usque ad diaconos, apo presbute/rwn e$wj diako/nwn, can. 24, distinguit canone 27, ieratikou\j, h$ klhrikou/j h$ laikou/j, sive sacratos, sive clericos, sive laicos. Et can. 30. Oti ou' dei= ieratiko\n h$ klhriko/n h$ a'skhth\n e'n balaneiw meta\ gunaikw=n a'polou/esqai, mhde pa/nta Cositiano\n h$ lai$ko/u. Non oportet sacratum vel clericum aut ascetam in balneo cum mulieribus lavari. sed nec ullum Christianum aut Laicum. Non sequuniur hujus synodi morem ecclesiastici scriptores. Basilius, epsit. 287, excommunicato omne cum sacratis commercium intercludit. Et in epist. 198, i'eratei=on intelligit coetum clericorum, eique ascribut clericos qui epistolas episcopi perferbant. Athanasius ad Rufinianum scribens, rogat eum ut epistolam legat i/eratei/w et populo. Gregorius Nazianzenus lectores sacri ordinis, i/epou\ tagmatoj, partem esse agnoscit in epist. 45. Notandus etiam canon 8 apostolicus, ei tij e'pi/okopoj h$ etc. presbu/teroj h$ dia/konoj h$ e'k tou i 9eoarikou= katalo/gon, etc. Si quis episopus vel presbyter vel diaconus, vel ex sacro ordine. Haec visa sunt observanda, quia pluribus Basilii locis, quae dinceps occurrent, non parum afferent lucis." The letter of the Council in Illyricum uses i 9eratiko\n ta/gua in precisely the same way. Theod., Ecc. Hist. iv. 8, where see note on p. 113. So Sozomen, On the Council of Nicaea, i. 23. Ordo, the nearest Latin equivalent ot the Greek ta/gma, was originally used of any estate in the church, e.g. St. Jerome, On Isaih v. 19, 18.
4 meta\ th\n prw/thn e'pine/uhsin. 0pine/mhsij os om ;ater Greel tje recpgmosed equivalent for "indictio" in the sense of a period of fifteen years (Cod. Theod. xi. 28. 3). I have had some hesitation as to whether it could possibly I this passage indicate a date. But e'pine/mhsij does not appear to have been used in its chronological sense before Evagrius, and his expression (iv. 20) tou\j perio/douj tw=n ku/klwn kaloume/nwn e'pinemh/sewn looks as thought the term were not yet common; e'pi/e/mhsij here I take to refer to the assignment of presbyters to different places on ordination. I am indebted to Mr. J. W. Parker for valuable information and suggestions on this question.
1 Placed at the beginning of the Episcopate.
3 On the subject of the subintroductae or sunei/saktoi, one of the greatest difficulties and scandals of the early church, vide the article of Can. Venables in D.C.A. ii. 1937. The earliest prohibitive canon against the custom is that of the Council of Elvira, a.d. 305. (Labbe i. 973.) The Canon of Nicaea, to which Basil refers, only allowed the introduction of a mother, sister, or aunt. The still more extraordinary and perilous custom of ladies of professed celibacy entertaining male sune saktoi, referred to by Gregory of Nazianzus in his advice to virgins, a#rsena pa/nt0 a'le/eine sunei/sakton de\ ma/liota, may be traced even so far back as "the Shepherd of Hermas" (iii. Simil. ix. 11). On the charges against Paul of Samosata under this head, vide, Eusebius, vii. 30.
1 Placed at the beginning of the Episcopate.
2 A layman, of whom nothing more is known.
2 This letter, the first of six to Meletius of Antioch, is supposed to be assigned to this date, because of Basil's statement that the state of the Church of Caesera was still full of pain to him. Basil had not yet overcome the opposition of his suffragans, or won the position secured to him after his famous intercourse with Valens in 372. Meletius had now been for seven years exiled from Antioch, and was suffering for the sake of orthodoxy, while not in full communion with the Catholics, because of the unhappy Eustathian schism.
3 This Theophrastus may be identified with the deacon Theophrastus who died shortly after Easter a.d. 372. (cf. Letter xcv.) The secret instructions given him "seem to refer to Basil's design for giving peace to the Church, which Basil did not attempt to carry out before his tranquilization of Cappadocia, but may have had in mind long before." Maran, Vit. Bas. chap. xvi.
2 Three mss. give the title Grhgopi/w e'pisko'pw kai\ a'delfw=, but, as is pointed out by the Ben. Ed., the letter itself Is hardly one which would be written to one with the responsibilities of a bishop. Basil seems to regard his brother as at liberty to come and help him at Caesera. Gregory's consecration to the see of Nyssa is placed in 372, when his reluctance had to be overcome by force. cf. Letter ccxxv. On the extraordinary circumstance of his well meant but futile forgery of the name of his namesake and uncle, bishop of an unknown see, vife Prolegom.
3 Bishop of Tyana, estranged from Basil, cf. Letters cxx., cxxi., cxxii., and ccx.
5 Negat Basilius se adfuturum, nisi decenter advocetur, id est, nist mittantur qui euim in indictum locum deducant. Erat Basilius, nt in ejus modi officiis exhibendis diligentissimus, ita etiam in reposcendis attentus. Meletius Antiochenus et Theodorus Nicopolitanus, cum Basilium ad celebritatem quamdam obiter advocassent per Hellenium Nazianzi Peraequatorem, nec iterum misissent qui de visdem adomoneret aut deduceret; displicuit Basilio perfunctoria invitandi ratio, ac veritus ne suspectus illis esset, adesse noluit." Note by Ben. Ed.
1 Placed in 361, at about the same time as the preceding.
1 Of the same time as the preceding.
2 This, the first of Basil's six extant letters to Athanasius, is placed by the Ben. Ed. in 371. It has no certain indication of date. Athanasius, in the few years of comparative calm which preceded his death in May, 373, had excommunicated a vicious governor in Libya, a native of Cappadocia, and announced his act to Basil. The intercourse opened by this official communication led to a more important correspondence.
2 A town in Northern Cappadocia, on the right bank of the Halys, on or near a hill whence it was named, on the road between Ancyra and Archelais. The letter appears to Maran (Vita S. Bas. xvi.) to have been written before the encouragement given to the Arians by the visit of Valens in 372. The result of Basil's appeal to the Parnassenes was the election of an orthodox bishop, expelled by the Arians in 375, and named Hypsis or Hypsinus. cf. Letter ccxxxvii., where Ecdicius is said to have succeeded Hypsis; and ccxxxviii., where Ecdicius is called Parnasshno/j.
1 Of about the same date as the preceding.
2 Another reading is Helladius. cf. Letters lxiv., lxxvii., and ixxviii. The identification of these Elpidii is conjectural. The name was common.