Basil, On Christian Doctrine and Practice

Basil, On Christian Doctrine and Practice.  Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press.

Despite the title, this really isn’t a systematic treatise on ethics and theology. It is a collection of Basil’s sermons.  But even then, there are numerous insights that are worth considering.

 

Homily on the Beginning of Proverbs

 

Wisdom:  “systematic knowledge of divine and human things and their causes” (Basil 55).

 

Justice: “the state of mind that distributes according to merit” (63).  Yet Basil takes it even deeper: “true justice is Christ” (65).

 

Wisdom must proceed from a just soul.

 

First Homily on Psalm 14 (MT: 15)

 

Tent: our body, this earthly life.  Basil sees a movement from “tent” to mountain.

 

Df. human being = “a mind united to a suitable and fitting body” (170).

 

Two Homilies on the Trinity

 

Both Father and Son share same Lordship.  Basil sees a movement in the Ephesian formula “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.”   Yet, he argues, these aren’t three “ones.”

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