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329–379 Greece
Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great (Greek: Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ágios Basíleios o Mégas; Coptic: Ⲡⲓⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ Ⲃⲁⲥⲓⲗⲓⲟⲥ; 329 or 330 – January 1 or 2, 379), was a Byzantine bishop of Caesarea Mazaca in Cappadocia, Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). He was an influential theologian who supported the Nicene Creed and opposed the heresies of the early Christian church, fighting against both Arianism and the followers of Apollinaris of Laodicea.
Also known as: Basil the Great, Basil, Bishop of Cæsarea, Saint Basil, Saint Basil the Great, St. Basil
Random Basil of Caesarea quote
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When the mind is not dissipated upon extraneous things, nor diffused over the world about us through the senses, it withdraws within itself, and of its own accord ascends to the contemplation of God.
We thus become temples of God whenever earthly cares cease to interrupt the continuity of our memory of Him.
For the hopes of men have been justly called waking dreams.
You must give heed unto virtue, O men, which swims forth even with a man who has suffered shipwreck, and, on his coming naked to land, will render him more honoured than the happy Phaeacians.
The earth doth not cover our beloved, but heaven hath received him; let us tarry for a while, and we shall be in his company.
“The kingdom of heaven is within you.” And concerning the inner man, it consists of nothing but contemplation. Therefore the kingdom of heaven must be contemplation.
The discipline of piety nourishes the soul with divine thoughts.
Those who love their neighbor as themselves possess nothing more than their neighbor.
To the Rich (368)
I consider it absurd that we should permit our senses to sate themselves without hindrance with their own material food, but that we should exclude the mind alone from its own particular activity.
Each believer has at his side a guardian angel as protector and shepherd, to lead him to life.
If everyone were content with the necessary and gave the poor the superfluous, there would be neither rich nor poor.
Such too was Moses, who rose up in great wrath to oppose those who sinned against God, but endured with meekness of spirit all slanders against himself.
Prayer itself, if it lacks the community element, is much less effective than it could be.
Nothing withstands the influence of wealth. Everything submits to its tyranny, everything cowers at its dominion.
To the Rich (368)
The Spirit is truly the place of the saints, and for the Spirit the saint is a particularly suitable dwelling place, since the saint offers to dwell with God and is called his temple.
Let one hour, the same regularly each day, be set aside for food, so that out of the twenty-four hours of day and night, barely shall this one be expended on the body, the ascetic devoting the remainder to the activities of the mind.
If we all took only what was necessary to satisfy our own needs, giving the rest to those who lack, no one would be rich, no one would be poor, and no one would be in need.
In general, just as painters in working from models constantly gaze at their exemplar and thus strive to transfer the expression of the original to their own artistry, so too he who is anxious to make himself perfect in all the kinds of virtue must gaze upon the lives of the saints as upon statues, so to speak, that move and act, and must make their excellence his own by imitation.
We must try to keep the mind in tranquility. For just as the eye which constantly shifts its gaze, now turning to the right or to the left, now incessantly peering up and down, cannot see distinctly what lies before it, but the sight must be fixed firmly on the object in view if one would make his vision of it clear, so too man's mind when distracted by his countless worldly cares cannot focus itself distinctly on the truth.
You begrudge your fellow human beings what you yourself enjoy; taking wicked counsel in your soul, you consider not how you might distribute to others according to their needs, but rather how, after having received so many good things, you might rob others.
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