3.
The vigorous
talents of Basil soon put to rights the disorders and variances which had been
the scandal of the Church of Cæsarea; and with the assistance of Gregory, he
completely vanquished the Eunomian disputants, from whose subtlety the peace of
the Church had principally suffered. What was of more consequence to its
permanent welfare, he was successful in obliterating all the suspicions which
his bishop had entertained of him, and at length gained such influence over
him, that he had really the government of the see in his own hands. This was
the more desirable, as Eusebius had not been regularly educated for the
ministerial office, but had been called by the sudden voice of the people, as
sometimes happened, to fill the episcopal chair. At length (A.D. 370) Eusebius
died; and Basil, as might be [9] expected, though not without a strong
opposition, was elected, at the age of forty, to supply his place. This
opposition was excited by the governing powers of the country, who might
naturally be supposed to fear a man of Basil's commanding character, and who
were joined by some of the bishops of the exarchate, and by an irreligious
party in the city itself.
He had not
been long in his see when he was brought into open collision with the civil
power. The Arian Emperor, Valens, made a progress through the East, from
Constantinople to Antioch, in A.D. 371, 372, with the determination of deposing
the Catholic bishops in the countries which he traversed; and about the end of
the former year he came to Cæsarea. The Prætorian Prefect, Modestus, travelled
before him, proposing to the Bishops of the cities, which lay on his road, the
alternative of communicating with the Arians, or losing their sees. He summoned
Basil into his presence, in his turn, and set before him the arguments which
had been already found successful with others,—that it was foolish to resist
the times, and to trouble the Church about inconsiderable questions; and he
promised him the prince's favour for him and his friends, if he complied.
Failing by soft language, he adopted a higher tone; but he found his match.
Gregory has preserved the dialogue which passed between them.
“What is the meaning of this, you Basil
(said the Prefect, a bitter Arian, not deigning to style him bishop), that you
stand out against so great a prince, and are self-willed when others yield?”BASIL: “What would you? and what is my extravagance? I have not yet learned it.”
MODESTUS: “Your not worshipping after the emperor's manner, when the rest of your party have given way and been overcome.”
BASIL: “I have a Sovereign whose will is otherwise, nor can I [10]bring myself to worship any creature—I a creature of God, and commanded to be a god.”
MODESTUS: “For whom do you take me?”
BASIL: “For a thing of nought, while such are your commands.”
MODESTUS: “Is it, then, a mere nothing for one like you to have rank like myself; and to have my fellowship?”
BASIL: “You are Prefect, and in noble place: I own it. Yet God's majesty is greater; and it is much for me to have your fellowship, for we are both God's creatures. But it is as great a thing to be fellow to any other of my flock, for Christianity lies not in distinction of persons, but in faith. ”
The Prefect was angered at this, and rose from his chair, and abruptly asked Basil if he did not fear his power.
BASIL: “Fear what consequences? what sufferings? ”
MODESTUS: “One of those many pains which a Prefect can inflict. ”
BASIL: Let me know them. ”
MODESTUS: “Confiscation, exile, tortures, death. ”
BASIL: “Think
of some other threat. These have no influence upon me. He runs no risk of
confiscation, who has nothing to lose, except these mean garments and a few
books. Nor does he care for exile, who is not circumscribed by place, who does
not make a home of the spot he dwells in, but everywhere a home whithersoever
he be cast, or rather everywhere God's home, whose pilgrim he is and wanderer.
Nor can tortures harm a frame so frail as to break under the first blow. You
could but strike once, and death would be gain. It would but send me the sooner
to Him for whom I live and labour, for whom I am dead rather than alive, to
whom I have long been journeying. ”
MODESTUS: “No one yet ever spoke to
Modestus with such freedom.”
BASIL: “Peradventure
Modestus never yet fell in with a bishop; or surely in a like trial you would
have heard like language. O Prefect, in other things we are gentle, and more
humble than all men living, for such is the commandment; so as not to raise our
brow, I say not against 'so great a prince,' but even against one of least
account. But when God's honour is at stake, we think of nothing else, looking
simply to Him. Fire and the sword, beasts of prey, irons to rend the flesh, are
an indulgence rather than a terror to a Christian. Therefore insult, threaten,
do your worst, make the most of your power. Let the emperor be informed of my [11]
purpose. Me you gain not, you persuade not, to an impious creed, by menaces
even more frightful. ” Greg. Orat. 43.
Modestus parted
with him with the respect which firmness necessarily inspires in those who
witness it; and, going to the emperor, repeated the failure of his attempt. A
second conversation between the bishop and the great officers of the court took
place in the presence, as some suppose, of Valens himself, who had generosity
enough to admire his high spirit, and to dismiss him without punishment.
Indeed, his admiration of Basil occasioned a fresh trial of the archbishop's
constancy, more distressing, perhaps, than any which he had hitherto undergone.
On the feast of the Epiphany, he attended, with all his court, the church where
Basil offered the Holy Sacrifice, and heard his sermon. The collected air of
the Bishop, the devotion of the clergy, the numbers and the attention of the
congregation, and the power of their voices, fairly overcame him, and he almost
fainted away. At the Offertory he made an effort to approach the altar to
present his oblation; but none of the ministers of the church presenting
themselves to receive it from him, his limbs again gave way, and it was only by
the assistance of one of them that he was kept from falling.
It would be
a satisfaction to be able to indulge a hope that the good feelings of the
emperor were more than the excitement of the moment; but his persevering
persecution of the Catholics for years afterwards forbids the favourable
supposition. However, for the time Basil gained him. Modestus even became the
saint's friend; Cappadocia was secured, in great measure, from the sufferings
with which the Catholics elsewhere were visited, and some of the best of the
imperial lands in the neighbourhood were made over for the endowment of an [12]
hospital which Basil had founded for lepers. He seems in the event to have
succeeded in introducing such institutions throughout his province.
